TWO KILLED BY COLLAPSING BUILDING (BACK PAGE, JAN 8, 2011)

Two persons died on the spot, while three others sustained injuries, when a storey building under construction at Antwrifo in the Dormaa West municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region collapsed on them on Wednesday evening.
The deceased have been identified as Papa Solo, 32, and Edward Cudjoe, 18, both residents of Antwrifo, who were chatting at the site when the incident occurred.
The names of the injured were given as John Adu, a middle-aged man who is the owner of the collapsed building and clearing agent at Elubo in the Western Region; Alfred Tawiah, the Catechist of the local Presbyterian Church, and Henry Obeng, aka Ata.
The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the Dormaa Ahenkro Presbyterian Hospital morgue, while the three injured persons are also on admission at the same hospital.
It took a rescue team, led by the Divisional Officer Grade One of the Dormaa West Municipal Fire Station, Mr Charles Kumi Amponsah, about two hours to remove the dead and the injured who were trapped under the debris.
Among the security agencies that took part in the rescue operation were the police and a military patrol team, as well as the Dormaa West Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Vincent Oppong Asamoah, who provided a generator to assist in the operation, since Antwrifo has no electricity.
Briefing the Daily Graphic, Mr Amponsah said the disaster occurred between 4.15 p.m. and 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday but the station received the distress call at 5 p.m. and rushed to the scene immediately.
He said the Fire Service rescue team cut the iron rods and the concrete debris under which the victims were trapped to remove them.
He attributed the collapse of the building, which was at the first floor level, to shoddy work, since those working on it did not allow the concrete works to dry before removing the bamboo sticks and others that had been used to support the concrete works for the first floor.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, also visited the scene later and expressed his sympathy and that of the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council to the bereaved families.
He urged the various municipal and district assemblies (MDAs) in the region to strictly enforce their bye-laws and other regulations on building construction to forestall the future recurrence of that disaster.