The Akwa Ibom State Government has said it has not carried out mass burial for the victims of the December 10 collapse of Reigners Bible Church building in Uyo.
The scene of the collapsed building
While speaking during a press conference in Uyo on Wednesday, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, disclosed that the state government has not carried out mass burial for the victims of the December 10 collapse of Reigners Bible Church building in Uyo as being speculated.
He added that the rumoured mass burial for victims almost resulted in their families attacking medical personnel in different hospitals.
Online reports had alleged that families of the victims of the collapsed church building had besieged different hospitals for the corpses.
Speaking further, the commissioner stated that corpses would be released to their family members as soon as the police concluded its investigation, adding that the official figures of those who died during the incident at 26. He noted that government had gone to different hospitals to compare the figures.
“After making the rounds of all the hospitals concerned, and in consultation with officials of the health and security services, who were directly involved in the rescue operations, the figures we have been able to reconcile indicate that 26 people passed on as a result of this incident. There are few unrecognised cases of not more than three persons and we are working to reconcile these figures as soon as possible," he said.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Murtala Mani, who was represented by the Police Public Relations Officer, Cordelia Nwawe, stated that the police would only act on the matter after investigation had been concluded and the culprit named.
On the actual number of those dead, Mani said it was only doctors that could certify.