Collapsed Wall Kills One

One person was killed instantly whilst three others sustained various degree of injury when a wall of a building at Alabar, a Muslim dominated neighborhood in the Asawase area of the Ashanti Region, collapsed on them on Saturday. The deceased, Alima Frafra, a 32-year-old cook, met her untimely death through the incident which occurred around 8pm on that fateful day. Aweni, Akologu and Yaa, all cooking assistants, sustained serious injuries and were rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for medical attention. Whereas Yaa was treated and discharged in the same evening, Aweni and Akologu were admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit due to the severity of the injuries they sustained. The legs of Aweni and Akologu, Daily Guide gathered, were badly damaged as a result of the concrete wall which collapsed on them whilst they were busily preparing soup for their food vending business. Eyewitnesses told the paper at the accident scene on Sunday morning that the head and neck of the deceased, who was very close to the wall, were badly damaged. The body of the late cook, according to sources, was quickly deposited at the KATH’s mortuary, immediately the body was retrieved from the debris. The local boys, Daily Guide gathered, lent a supporting hand to the officials of the Ashanti regional branch of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) who were called to the scene to help rescue the injured. Information gathered by the paper indicated that more casualties would have been recorded had the weakened wall buckled early in the day, as many of the cooks would have been around performing their respective duties. The wall, Daily Guide learnt, had been a death-trap for quite some time now, as the pillars supporting it had developed visible cracks to the extent that it had shifted backwards. It was therefore not surprising that the impact of the little rains on the wall on the Saturday evening caused such havoc. Information reaching the paper revealed that the landlord of the building was arrested and detained on Sunday morning when the Manyhia Divisional Police Command invited him over the incident. The Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Samuel Sarpong, led a delegation to visit the scene and assess the extent of damage.