Cause of Akyem-Batabi church building collapse revealed

Director-General of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Eric Nana Agyemang Prempeh, has addressed a press conference to explain what caused the building collapse disaster at Akyem-Batabi in the Eastern Region.

According to a Daily Graphic report, the NADMO boss disclosed that preliminary investigations into the cause of the collapse of the Church of Prosperity building point to the use of substandard materials to construct the three-storey building.

Among the substandard materials used for the construction include iron rods, sand and chippings.

“He announced that the death toll at the site of the disaster had risen to 22, comprising 12 females — including a two-year-old girl — and 10 males. Eight of the 30 people retrieved from the rubble by the search and rescue team are alive.

“Six of the survivors had been treated and discharged from the Oda Government Hospital, one was still on admission at the same facility, while the other victim had been transferred to the St Joseph Hospital in Koforidua for intensive care,” according to the report by state-owned Daily Graphic.

Meanwhile, the local assembly has been tasked to find the perpetrators of the disaster and recommend punitive actions, according to the same Daily Graphic report.

“The government cannot continue to waste the scarce national resources on disasters through the negligence of irresponsible people,” the NADMO boss is reported to have said.

The local assembly has also been tasked to pay the medical expenses of a victim of the disaster who is on admission at the St Joseph Hospital, the report said.

The unidentified victim of the disaster is expected to pay an initial GH¢3,500 before the treatment of his fractured legs will begin.

The uncompleted church building said to be owned by Prophet Isaac Ofori, aka Akoa Isaac, caved in on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

The building had been undergoing construction for at least ten years.