Some 13 congregants killed when a KwaZulu-Natal Province church collapsed on them this week had been asleep at the time of the tragedy, South African police said on Saturday.
Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said an inquest docket into the accident, which occurred on Thursday night, had been opened, and confirmed 12 of the 13 people killed in the collapse were women, while the 13th was a boy.
Ten other church members sustained minor injuries, while six were seriously injured in the accident, the police said.
“The congregants were sleeping in the building after the church service ended just after 10pm (2000 GMT). There was heavy wind and rain, and the walls collapsed on them.
“The 13 confirmed dead are 12 women and one boy. An inquest docket has been opened and police are still at the scene,” she said.
According to SAPS, the church building collapse happened at the Pentecostal Church in the small town of Ndlangubo, near Richards Bay, on the KwaZulu Natal Province’s north coast.
NM/jn/APA