GHANA: President John Mahama suspends campaigning, visits a Ghana mall that has collapsed and victims in hospital. Investigation ordered into collapse which killed at least four

Record ID: 216344

  • Title: GHANA: President John Mahama suspends campaigning, visits a Ghana mall that has collapsed and victims in hospital. Investigation ordered into collapse which killed at least four
  • Date: 7th November 2012
  • Summary: ACCRA, GHANA (NOVEMBER 7, 2012) (REUTERS) SECURITY OFFICER BRIEFING GHANA PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA (IN RED T-SHIRT AND SUNGLASSES) NEAR OPERATION AT SIDE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING PRESIDENT JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS STANDING AND LISTENING PRESIDENT MAHAMA WALKING AROUND COLLAPSED BUILDING PEOPLE WATCHING RESCUE OPERATION RESCUE OPERATION OFFICERS WORKING U
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ghana
  • Country: Ghana
  • Topics: Accidents,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA876IRAVROGBAU3AH076CF5K4N
  • Story Text: At least four people were killed and dozens more were trapped in rubble when a four-storey building housing a department store collapsed on Wednesday in a suburb of Ghana's capital Accra.
    Ghana President John Mahama, running for election in December, cut short a campaign tour to visit the site and promised that anyone found responsible would "pay the price" as it emerged the building had not received proper approval from city authorities.
    Emergency officials at the scene said the collapse most likely had been caused by structural failure.

    "The building was there and just went down, clearly we can see from the debris that construction was poorly done, and so I am sure that there is definitely going to be an investigation after this. But the priority now is to get the lives out but after that the constructor who put up the site will have questions to answer," said government spokesperson Samuel Oduro.
    Rescue workers had pulled 42 survivors from the rubble by nightfall as well as four dead bodies, and large crowds gathered to watch.
    Some of those rescued showed signs of injury, and all were examined at a nearby hospital.
    Mahama and Ghana's Vice President Kwasi Amissah-Arthur visited some victims at Achimota Hospital. One woman being treated at the hospital for her injuries said she was working in the supermarket inside the building when it collapsed, and she described her rescue.

    "We were hitting the door there, that was how they (rescue operation team) got to know, so immediately they hit it they was a hole there so I used my head to pass through, so that they could rescue me and those at my back. One (victim), the pillar was in the middle of her, as for her she could not come out," she told President Mahama.
    Accra is in the midst of a construction boom spurred by oil-fuelled economic growth. Construction standards region-wide are generally poor and enforcement of building codes is often lax. Melcom Ltd., which runs Ghana's biggest chain of retail department stores, said it had rented the building and opened a store there about six months ago.
    Around 10 people were still believed to be trapped under the wreckage, though authorities said most were in good spirits and some had been able to communicate with their families by mobile telephone.
    Officials said rescue efforts would continue through the night and emergency workers were able to supply trapped victims with drinking water and oxygen through openings in the wreckage.
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