Collapsed Building Kills Two In Kumasi





TWO PERSONS died and others got injured, when the entire verandah of a two-storey building collapsed at Krofrom, a suburb of Kumasi, in the late hours of Monday.

 
The sad incident occurred around 8:30pm on Monday, after a torrential rain that left some parts of the metropolis in total flood.

The victims, who have been identified as Josephine, also known as ‘Maame Joe’, 28, and Georgina, believed to be in her 40s, were said to be trapped in the building during the collapse and could not survive after the rescue team, made up of personnel from the Police and the Fire Service, managed to dig them out.

At the time of filing this report, the whereabouts of one other occupant of the house, Anita Agyemang, who was also believed to have been in the house at the time the incident occurred, could not be traced.

At the time The Chronicle arrived at the scene of the incident, rescue team from the Ghana National Fire Service, the Military and the Police were busily pulling debris and pieces of the collapsed structure in the hope of finding survivors.

The bodies of the two victims and three others, who got injured, had been sent to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital for autopsy and treatment.

 
One of the survivors includes 75 year old Mr. Gyamfi and is said to be the father of Josephine, one of the deceased.

The two-storey building, according to information, belongs to a lotto agent, whose name was only given as Mr. Aboagye.

 
An eye witness, Kwadwo Frimpong told The Chronicle in an interview that around 8:30pm on Monday, they heard an unusual noise, but before he could inform his father about it, they heard a loud bang of the collapsed building.

Assistant Station Officer at the Manhyia office of the Fire Service, John Dankwah, who led the rescue effort, told the paper that they received a distress call around 9pm about the collapsed building and responded quickly to it.

 
He said they managed to pull the two victims who were trapped under the collapsed building, but they were already dead.

 
Assistant Station Officer Dankwah said they had to call for assistance from the Road Safety Management Limited for an excavator to enable them clear the heavy debris.