Debris from the collapsed building
A collapsed uncompleted storey building at Assemblies, near Top Town at Amanfro in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region has claimed the lives of two.
The incident, which occurred on Tuesday, July 4, killed the owner of the building, who was said to have died instantly and one other who died while on admission at the Kasoa Polyclinic.
The deceased were identified as Hannah Lomotey, a midwife and owner of Hope of Restoration Health Centre, and a 28-year-old nurse at the facility, Juliet Koranteng.
A set of twins, said to be the grandchildren of Ms. Lomotey, and another nurse were pulled from the rubble and are currently receiving treatment at the Winneba Trauma Hospital.
The site of the disaster became a scene of attraction as residents from far and near trooped there to see the collapsed structure.
An eyewitness narrated that the earth shook momentarily and passers-by managed to escape, however, the victims seated beneath the building got trapped.
Another nurse, Esther Pokuaa, who escaped, said the building collapsed shortly after it had begun to rain.
The victims, she said, were either sitting or standing under the structure, when it went down, trapping them in the process.
She said it took the fire service team from Kasoa and the police to move to the scene to try and rescue them.
“Shortly after I left the building to this polytank to wash my hands, the building collapsed and I could hear one of the twins calling my name for help under the rubble.
“Though confused and not knowing what to do at that moment, as I could not lift the concrete slabs, I mustered courage to call the police,” a visibly shaken Ms. Pokuaa said.
She said the incident happened shortly after 2pm.
Meanwhile, the Awutu Senya East Municipal Fire Commander, DO3 Mercel Kwami Avadu, said after their arrival at the scene, they were able to rescue two of the victims before an excavator they had called came and cleared the rubble to enable them to reach the others.
He said investigations were ongoing as there were more questions to be asked about the integrity of the structure.
“Further investigations will show the true cause of the collapse of the building,” he said.
The incident at Amanfrom brings to six, the number of storey buildings that have collapsed across the country this year.
Last May, three multi-storey buildings collapsed at three different places within a spate of one week.
They were six-storey buildings under construction at the University for Development Studies and City Campus at Sagnarigu in Tamale in the Northern Region; a three-storey building at Nanakrom in the Adentan Municipality, as well as a three-storey building under construction at the SDA Junction at the Adentan side of La-Nkwantanang Madina, in Accra.
That incident resulted in the death of one person, with three others sustaining varying degrees of injury.
Last month, a three-storey building also collapsed at Winneba in the Central Region.
Following the collapse of the earlier buildings, four ad hoc committees were set up by key professional bodies to investigate the cause of the collapsed buildings in some parts of the country.