Four dead as building collapses on them at Ashaiman

Ashaiman, Oct 10, GNA - Four persons lost their lives on Friday morning when an uncompleted two-storey building collapsed on them at Zenu, a suburb of Ashaiman. The dead, who were yet to be identified, comprised two women and two men who were selling on the ground floor of the building when the incident occurred.

A one-and-a-half year old boy, rescued from the debris of the collapsed building, by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service, has been sent to the Tema General Hospital.

Mr Prince Billy Anaglatey, Public Affairs Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service at Tema, told GNA that the bodies of the dead have been deposited at the Hospital mortuary. He said fire personnel received information that a mosque had collapsed at about 1126 hours but when they got to the scene they realized it was rather the uncompleted storey building. Mr Anaglatey said that information gathered at the scene revealed that the building which belonged to the Kingsway International Church caused a similar incident four years ago. He said even though the building was yet to be completed, the Church uses the ground floor for worship.

Mr Anaglatey attributed the cause of the incident to shoddy work done by contractors of the building, saying that they did not use the required quantity of cement for the project. He cautioned contractors against the use of inferior and substandard materials for building. Mr Anaglatey advised prospective builders to contact the Fire Service for structural advice and engage the services of qualified contractors to forestall future occurrences.