According to a Daily Graphic publication, two women died after a one-storey building collapsed on them on Tuesday, July 4 in an area known as Assemblies at Ngleshie Amanfro in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
The two were identified as Juliet Koranteng, a 28-year-old nurse employed by the hospital, and Hannah Lomotey, a midwife and proprietor of Hope of Restoration Health Centre.
Ms Lomotey, a mother of two, passed away instantly after becoming trapped beneath the debris of the building that had collapsed while it was still being built, while Ms Koranteng passed away last Tuesday evening at the Kasoa Polyclinic.
A pair of twins who are reportedly Ms. Lomotey’s grandchildren as well as another nurse are now being treated at the Winneba Trauma Hospital. On the morning of Wednesday, July 5, locals from far and wide flocked to the tragedy site to see the collapsed building.
A nurse named Esther Pokuaa, who narrowly avoided death when she left the building to go wash her hands before eating, told the Daily Graphic that the structure fell shortly after it started to rain.
She claimed that when the structure collapsed, the victims were trapped since they were either standing or sitting underneath it. She claimed that in order to attempt to save them, the police and the Kasoa fire service team had to rush to the location.
“Shortly after I left the building to this polytank to wash my hands, the building collapsed and I could hear one of the twins calling my name for help under the rubble.
“Though confused and not knowing what to do at that moment, as I could not lift the concrete slabs, I mustered courage to call the police,” a visibly shaken Ms Pokuaa said.
She said the incident happened shortly after 2 p.m. According to DO3 Mercel Kwami Avadu, the Awutu Senya East Municipal Fire Commander, upon arriving on the scene, they were able to rescue two of the victims before an excavator that had been called arrived and cleared the debris allowed them to reach the others. He claimed that further issues needed to be answered regarding the structural integrity and that investigations were still ongoing.
“Further investigations will show the true cause of the collapse of the building,” he said.
