Screengrab of rubble at the church.
At Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, en route to the Central Business District; is the Rev Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Church where a building collapse was reported late Friday afternoon of January 22.
Over twelve hours on, Ghanaweb TV visited the premises. It was largely quiet, deserted and very clean. The premises houses the church and school buildings which had been locked. The school starts from kindergarten through to Junior High School, JHS.
To the right side of the church is the scene of the accident that left two workers hospitalized. The duo, trapped under the rubble, were rescued by Ghana National Fire Service, GNFS, personnel who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident.
Sources at the premises say there were about six workers in all. Aside the GNFS, the police and National Disaster Management Organization, NADMO; were also on the scene. A church leader we met at the premises will not speak to us.
The now collapsed part of the structure which is behind the church was supposed to be an extension of the church. It had been cordoned off by NADMO tapes during our visit. There was a heap of rubble – iron rods, planks of wood and concrete.
A part of the collapsed structure had classroom chairs. Our source said school had closed at around 1:30 pm while the accident occurred around 3 pm. Authorities have noted that investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the accident.
