Nigeria preacher TB Joshua links guesthouse collapse to plane

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TB Joshua Lagos church collapse: Many South Africans dead

The discovery of more survivors enabled the search and rescue operation to continue

• In pictures: TB Joshua's church
• Preacher releases church collapse video Watch
• Plane 'linked to Lagos collapse'

At least 67 South Africans were killed when a church hostel belonging to Nigerian TV evangelist TB Joshua collapsed in Lagos last week, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has said.

It is not clear how many people died overall in Friday's collapse, as the previous death toll was put at 60.
It is the deadliest incident involving South Africans abroad "in our recent history", Mr Zuma said.
Mr Joshua, one of Nigeria's best-known evangelists, is popular across Africa.
Nigerian authorities are often reluctant to release death tolls.
The multi-story building served as a guesthouse on the campus of the televangelist's Synagogue, Church of All Nations.

TB Joshua

• Founded Synagogue, Church of All Nations in the 1990s
• Runs Christian television station Emmanuel TV
• The ministry professes to heal all manner of illnesses
• Controversially this includes HIV/Aids
• Known as the "Prophet" by his followers
• Tours Africa, the US, the UK and South America

In pictures: TB Joshua's ministry in 2005

It was housing visitors from elsewhere in Nigeria and other countries.
Mr Joshua had said a small plane had been circling over the building before it collapsed on Friday afternoon, and suggested it was an attempt on his life.

Officials suspect the foundations were not suitable for extra floors to be added to the building

Mr Joshua's preaching is popular and his sermons are sold around the world

On Tuesday, however, a rescue official said the likeliest cause of the building's collapse was the construction of additional storeys without reinforcing the foundations.
'Hostile to rescuers' At least 130 people, including many foreigners, were pulled out of the rubble.
Officials says members of the church at first prevented emergency workers from participating in the rescue.
"For the first three days of the incident, the church people were very hostile and prevented rescue officials' access to the site," a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Authority (Nema), Ibrahim Farinloyeh, told the AFP news agency.

BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg: OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg is crowded with people awaiting the return of their loved ones from Nigeria. So far one plane has returned.
It is understood that about 300 people, not all South African, travelled from South Africa last week to Lagos for one of Mr Joshua's healing gatherings.
The lack of information from Nigeria has not helped anxious relatives. The South African government has now set up a phone number for people to call for assistance, because some had been contacting the Pretoria embassy and phoning into local radio stations with the names of family members who had travelled to Nigeria.
Charismatic churches are hugely popular in South Africa, with Nigerian Pentecostals striking a particular chord. Thousands of TB Joshua's followers wait in queues, sometimes overnight, to catch a glimpse of the "Prophet" when he visits. He packs out stadiums on his tours.

It is believed that at least five South African church tour groups were visiting the church at the time of the collapse.
"This is a particularly difficult time for South Africa. Not in the recent history of our country have we had this large number of our people die in one incident outside the country," Mr Zuma said in a statement.

At least 130 people have been pulled from the rubble

"Our thoughts are with the families, friends and colleagues that have lost their loved ones in this heart-breaking tragedy. The whole nation shares the pain of the mothers, fathers, daughters and sons who have lost their loved ones. We are all in grief."
Following the collapse, Mr Joshua has continued to post scriptures on social networking sites to his hundreds of thousands of followers.
Known as the "Prophet", he regularly preaches to large crowds at a mega-church in Lagos's Ikotun district.
His followers in Nigeria and abroad believe he has the gifts of healing and prophecy.

The building was being extended to accommodate more visitors

TB Joshua, one of Nigeria's best known preachers, has linked a small plane circling over a church guesthouse in Lagos to its subsequent collapse.

At least 40 people died when the two-storey guesthouse for members of the Synagogue Church of All Nations collapsed on Friday.
There is no official comment. Local officials have said additional floors were being added to the structure.
Mr Joshua - also known as the Prophet - regularly preaches to vast crowds.
The popular televangelist says a small plane had circled over the building four times before it collapsed on Friday afternoon and it may have been an attempt to kill him.
"It was yesterday, Friday, as I was praying; they came to call me that there was an airplane hovering over the church. They said it is like it wanted to land," his statement said.
He said about 30 minutes later, it came over the building several times.
"About five minutes after, the building came down."

He gave journalists a CCTV video clip of the alleged plane, urging them "to use their discretion to write on what they saw".
Rescue officials say 130 people were pulled out of the rubble - some are being treated in local hospitals. Many foreigners are believed to have been there at the time.
Mr Joshua's services, at a mega-church in Lagos's Ikotun district, are known for attracting thousands of people.
Followers in Nigeria and abroad believe he has the gifts of healing and prophecy.

Source: BBC