A forensic expert, Richard Somiari, has informed an Ikeja forensic court that one of the five hitherto unidentified victims of the 1 November 2021 21-storey building collapse at Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos has now been identified.
The Nigerian News Agency (NAN) reports that with this, the number of unidentified victims is now four.
Mr. Somiari, who is the Director of the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, said this on Friday while testifying as the eighth forensic witness in the investigation.
NAN also reports that while testifying during proceedings on Thursday, the seventh forensic witness, who is Lagos State Acting Chief Medical Examiner Sokunle Soyemi, told the coroner’s court that five of the 50 victims were still unidentified.
Led by Lagos state government lawyer Akin George, the forensic expert said he received word on the way to the investigation that a DNA match had been established for one of the five unidentified deceased.
“We received 57 unique samples. In disasters, there may be dismemberment and we may not have 57 bodies.
“We got a total of 102 reference samples from all the families that came forward and we are still counting because we may still need a few more samples.
“Using those reference samples, we were able to previously identify 45 bodies.
“There are three bodies that have generated DNA profiles, but no reference profiles have matched those profiles.
“In such a situation, we will invite more family members or use personal belongings like a toothbrush to establish identity,” Somiari said.
Shedding light on why four of the deceased have yet to be identified, it revealed that profiles had been generated from the bodies, “but the profiles generated from family references did not match.
“The claimed biological reference is not what the science shows. We will use other methods such as the personal effects of any missing person suspected of being in the building collapse.
“This is the challenge we face. In most disasters, you can’t use DNA all the time to complete identification.”
However, Somiari said the identification process for the unknown deceased was ongoing and additional biological material would be used to identify the bodies.
He noted that the probability of a DNA mismatch for all those who died in the building collapse was very slim.
During cross-examination by African Women Lawyers Association counselor Amanda Demechi-Asagba, Mr. Somiari revealed some of the challenges he faces in identifying some of the deceased.
“Some families may not know that their loved ones are missing.
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“That is why in disasters not all bodies are always identified. There may be alternative methods that could be explored.
“That is the limitation of DNA as a reference, because you will always need a reference,” he said.
The coroner, Oyetade Komolafe, adjourned the proceedings until February 25 for the continuation of the hearing.
Three high-rise buildings (Blocks A, B and C), which were situated at Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, Block B (21 floors) collapsed, killing 50 people.
One of the deceased was Femi Osibona, managing director of Fourscore Heights Ltd., the project’s contractor. (YAYA)