Melcom tragedy: Israeli rescue team arrives in Ghana today

President John Dramani Mahama has accepted an offer from Israel to help locate and extract any remaining survivors in the collapsed Melcom shopping mall disaster that took place on Wednesday.

An 18-man team from Israel will arrive in the country today. A statement signed by the President’s Spokesperson, John Abdulai Jinapor, said the Israeli team will be working in close collaboration with the detachment from the Field Engineers Regiment of the Ghana Army currently at the site.

The hard work of the Field Engineers, NADMO and other emergency institutions including the Ghana Police and the National Ambulance Service have led to the rescue of at least fifty-one persons from the rubble.

Mr. Jinapor said the team will make an initial assessment of the site using special equipment and sniffer dogs that will help identify the locations of possible survivors or corpses.

An additional team of about one hundred and fifty (150) with additional equipment including field hospitals, concrete cutters among others are on standby to move to Ghana should the initial assessment deems it necessary.

President Mahama on Wednesday suspended his campaign in the Upper East Region and flew to Accra following news of the collapsed building. He has since visited the site and some hospitals where the rescued workers and shoppers are recuperating.