Chaos and fear gripped Accra New Town yesterday, when an uncompleted three-story building on the compound of the Accra New Town D/A School, near the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), collapsed around 1:00 pm, trapping over 30 worshippers beneath the debris.
At the time of filing this report, rescuers had pulled seven people alive from the wreckage, and they were receiving emergency treatment at nearby health facilities. However, many more were believed to remain trapped, raising fears of a growing death toll.
The building, left unfinished since 2012, was originally constructed to accommodate the overflow of students at the Accra New Town Experimental D/A School.
Eyewitnesses said the ground floor had been converted into a makeshift church where worshippers gathered for services when the collapse occurred.
“People are still under the building, and as a country we don’t have equipment that can quickly rescue them. They have been under the debris for hours,” said one witness, describing the panic that ensued after the collapse.
Rescue teams from the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) National Headquarters and police were immediately deployed, securing the site and beginning painstaking search operations to free those trapped.
The tragedy has reignited concerns about building safety, regulatory oversight, and the dangers posed by uncompleted structures in densely populated areas.
Residents and relatives of the trapped victims were anxiously watching the rescue efforts, hoping for more survivors as the search continued into the evening.
By Prince Fiifi Yorke