A 20-year-old itinerant female head porter has died at Adum, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region after bags of rice fell on her at a shop.

According to her colleagues, Rahinatu Alhassan was trapped under the weight of the bags of rice since Tuesday morning but was only discovered later in the evening when another attendant went into the shop to serve a customer.

People at shops nearby rushed to pull her body out after an alarm was sounded.

Rahinatu was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). The body has been taken to the morgue.

One of her mates who narrated what happened to Class91.3FM’s regional correspondent Hafiz Tijani, said: “I returned from a trip after I carried a load for someone. Upon arrival, I asked one of the colleagues of the whereabouts of Rahi, she did not reply. Some minutes later she also asked me the same question. I assumed Rahi had carried a load of a customer and was not yet back. Later in the day, one of the attendants here went into the shop to pick a bag of rice and noticed someone was on the floor with heavy bags of rice on her. He screamed and called for help. The guys at the nearby shops came around, lifted the bags and quickly rushed her to the hospital.”

Executives of the Kayayei Network Association have officially reported the incident to the KATH police station.

According to Hussein Zakaria, a treasurer of the Association, they have also began processes to claim the body for Islamic burial rites.