Warehouse collapses on six persons

Story: Albert K. Salia, Kofi Yeboah & Timothy Gobah
The Top Base neighbourhood at Gbawe in Accra was struck by disaster on Saturday afternoon when a warehouse under construction collapsed and killed six persons, including the contractor and wife of the Nigerian owner of the property.
Police sources named three of the deceased as Johnny Bukey, Kwame Nguah and Tina Kalu, who is believed to be the wife of the Nigerian owner of the warehouse. A fourth person’s name was given only as Joseph but the other two persons could not be identified.
Out of four other persons who escaped death, two were treated and discharged, while two others, whose names were given as Kweku Abeka and Chika Lekwuwu, a Nigerian lady, are on admission at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
Residents in the area believe that there are some victims still trapped under the concrete rubble.
According to the District Chief Executive of Ga West, Mr Brosby Quartey-Papafio, there was no permit for the construction of the warehouse, an assertion that was confirmed by three “Stop Work” notices, including a final warning notice, by the district assembly on the walls of the building.
The owner of the warehouse, identified as Mr Jonathan Kalu, a second-hand clothes dealer. He was on admission at the Mercy Clinic at Mataheko at the time of going to press.
He was said to be hard-pressed for the facility for the keeping of large quantities of bales of second-hand clothing which had been sitting at the Tema Harbour for many months, thus imposing a huge financial cost on his business.
Rumours were rife among residents that the concrete roofing did not dry sufficiently before the boards supporting it were removed, basing their allegation on the speed with which the structure was put up, coupled with the poor quality of work.
In the wake of the disaster, the DCE resolved to move bulldozers to the area this week to pull down all buildings that had no permit from the assembly.
Although eyewitnesses said three of the owner’s children were trapped, the Deputy Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) K. A. Boateng, who was at the scene of the accident, told the Daily Graphic that no child was traced after an excavator was brought in to help with the rescue operation.
There are conflicting reports about the number of people dead and the health institutions they were sent to. Whereas some people put the figure of the dead at six, others said they were nine.
Official records at the Accident Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital indicate that six victims were brought to the centre. Two of them were dead, one a male and the other, a female, believed to be the wife of the owner of the property.
Another two were treated and discharged while the remaining two were still on admission.
The two on admission are a male and an expectant mother, who is said to be a friend of the deceased wife of the owner of the building.
When the Daily Graphic visited the hospital yesterday morning, relations of the victims were trooping there to find out their condition.
According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred around 2.30 p.m. and as of 8 p.m., a rescue team, including personnel of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the Red Cross, the police and the National Ambulance Service who were marshalled, were still digging the heavy debris to search for the dead and survivors.
The excavator was said to have been provided by Big Aidoo Construction Company, which is undertaking road construction works at Mallam, a suburb of Accra.
At a point in time when the excavator ran out of fuel, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, was said to have provided money to re-fuel the excavator.
Mr Morris, who residents referred to as Oga, was said to have escaped the disaster after he left the building site to buy yoghurt for his children.
Most of the workers were said to have been hired in from Russia, a suburb of Accra, to do the work.
Ms Botchwey, the Accra Regional Crime Officer, Chief Superintendent Boi-Bi-Boi; the National Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr George Isaac Amoo; and the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Ben Brown, were among a number of dignitaries who visited the accident spot.
Although there were discrepancies in the number of people present at the time of the collapse, one of the workers, Mr Mohammed Akwan, who escaped, said he was with five workers inside the main building while an unidentified number sat close to one of the pillars.
He said his colleagues were removing the boards which had been used to support the concrete roof of the warehouse, when the structure collapsed on them.
Residents in the area claimed that three weeks after putting the concrete roof, they were surprised to see the workers remove the board that provided support for the structures.
A resident, Mr Christopher Nat Quartey, said workers on the site refused to heed several pieces of advice on the dangers posed by their shoddy work.
As of the time of filing this report, Mr Morris was yet to report to the police.
Mr Boateng said initially, four were found dead but the rescue team retrieved another body and a lady, who was among the injured, later died, bringing the number of the dead to six.
He said the police could not confirm whether it was the owner’s wife or not because two ladies, one who later died, were said to have been among the injured taken to hospital.
He said information available to the police indicated that there were other people standing close to the structure but they, however, managed to escape.
Mr Boateng appealed to developers to endeavour to always engage the services of competent artisans to construct their houses or structures.
He said a closer look at the debris showed that the items used for the construction right from sand to iron rods were of inferior quality.
Mr Quartey-Papafio appealed to the general public to endeavour to obtain permit before undertaking any development, adding, “We should be disciplined to forestall future occurrence of such disasters.”
Mr Ben Brown also underlined the need for developers to do the right thing by involving professionals in the work, pointing out that in trying to cut down cost, one might end up losing everything.
On the difficulties encountered during the rescue operation, he stressed the need for the nation to acquire sniffer dogs to help undertake such operations.
Last year, a similar incident occurred at the OA bus terminal in Kumasi when a three-storey building collapsed, killing some people in the process.