Building collapses on four at East Legon

Four persons sustained severe injuries, when parts of a single-storey building they were working on at an area near East Legon collapsed on them.

The carpenter among them is reported to have prematurely removed a piece of wood supporting the concrete flow of the building resulting in the collapse.

The injured have been admitted to the 37 Military Hospital.
According to Mr Alex Twumasi, an eyewitness, the building collapsed about 8.30 a.m. and it took onlookers more than an hour to be able to rescue the injured.

"I heard a loud noise in the yard because I was next door and when I rushed to the scene, I saw that the building had collapsed on the workers," he said.

Mr Twumasi said he quickly raised an alarm and some of the workers at the scene helped remove the injured persons from the rubble.

According to him, they initially rescued three and when they had almost given up, one of them who was still under the rubble called on his mobile phone and was also saved.

He blamed the accident on poor work by the contractor but the steel bender, one Ampofo, totally disagreed with him.

Mr Ampofo said the concrete flow was only two weeks old and had to be left for another two weeks before the wood supporting it could be removed.

"I do not know who instructed the carpenter to remove the wood when the concrete was not dry," '. he added.

Mr Siisi Crentsil, the owner of the building, who spoke to the a cross-section of the media at the hospital, said he heard the news of the incident in total shock.

"I knew the concrete was not ready for any wood supporting it to be removed and I wonder why the carpenter did that," he added.

He said as an estate developer, he had gained experience on the job and would not have authorised anybody to remove the wood sup¬porting the concrete when it was not time to do so.

Mr Crentsil described the accident as unfortunate and was thankful that none of the workers perished in the accident.

Source: Daily Graphic