Accra Newtown Experimental Basic School disaster: 3 Confirmed dead, 22 injured victims undergo treatment

It has been confirmed that three persons died out of the 22 people who were trapped in the rubble of the four-storey Accra Newtown Experimental Basic School block which collapsed last Sunday.

The disaster, which occurred at about 5 p.m. last Sunday, resulted in the death of the three persons, all members of a church which was having a service in the facility.

The deceased comprised two females and a male, said to be the leader of the church.

The remaining 19 who got injured are currently receiving treatment at three health facilities — 12 at the 37 Military Hospital, one at the University of Ghana Medical Centre and six at the Police Hospital, all in Accra.

Officials

Following the incident, high ranking government officials, including the Vice-President, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, visited the scene to assess the situation at first hand.

Present was the Inspector General of Police, Christian Tetteh-Yohuno.

Other persons that visited the scene included the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak; the Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga; the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Linda Obenewaa Akweley Ocloo; the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu; the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, and the Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Dr Joseph Bikanyi Kuyon.

The Vice-President also visited the injured victims at the three medical facilities yesterday.

When the Daily Graphic visited the disaster site yesterday, members of the 48 Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) were seen clearing the rubble from the compound of the school, a Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) project.

Those who were on standby to provide security, law and order were personnel from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), NADMO, National Ambulance Service and Youth Employment Agency.

Barricade

The police had also barricaded the roads leading to the accident scene, giving access to only official vehicles.

It was also observed that the school was out of session on the instruction of the education authorities.

The Commanding Officer of the 48 Engineers Regiment, Lt. Col. Frank Osei Amponsah, who doubles as the Incident Command Post Commander, told the Daily Graphic that the situation was relatively calm, and that last Sunday, the military received a distress call from NADMO and quickly moved to the scene to engage in rescuing the victims.

As of now, he said, their primary work involved the carting of the rubble to the dump site.

“Looking at the volume of materials, we anticipate executing this in three days, all things being equal,” he said, adding that it was a three-storey facility, with the exception of the ground floor. 

Contributions

He recognised the contributions of the first respondents from the community who made efforts to rescue persons trapped beneath the rubble.

Mr Ayariga commended the military, other personnel and security services for the work they did to rescue those who were trapped.

On behalf of the parliamentary caucus, he expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and wished the injured speedy recovery.

He said those who supervised such projects must be held to account when things of such nature happened, adding that, “it is because we don’t hold them to account …they keep doing this”.

Assessment

He said the AESL would be called upon to do a structural assessment of an adjoining facility on the school compound, which residents and students had raised concerns about.

“AESL would be the best to do a structural assessment and tell us if we should desist from using the facility,” he said.

Prof. Davis indicated that his outfit would hold an emergency meeting with technical experts to determine the safety of the remaining facilities.

Dr Kuyon said the collapse of the building would be investigated, and that, among other things, the Engineering Council would do an assessment of the materials used to determine the cause of the collapse.

“So, we will definitely have to investigate the suitability of the building for habitation,” he emphasised.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Ayawaso Central, Rudolph Collingwoode-Williams, said his outfit had identified the building as unsafe prior to the incident and had taken steps to remove occupants.

He said he led efforts to address the structure weeks earlier, and had assigned an operation to clear people from the premises.

Mr Collingwoode-Williams explained that officials had already initiated structural assessments under a GETFund project and had engaged engineers to determine whether the building required reinforcement or demolition

ADO 1 Isaac Kojo Opoku from the Public Relations Department of the GNFS confirmed that the total number of persons involved was 22, with the three dead currently deposited at the Police Hospital morgue.

He said the youngest among those who got trapped was four years old.