Ofankor collapsed building: ‘Tenants being economical with the truth - GNFS spokesperson

Collapsed Ofankor three-storey building

Spokesperson of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), ADO1 Alex King Nartey has said he believes residents of the collapsed three-storey building at Ofankor are being careful about giving full accounts of tenants, and the true state of the building prior to the collapse.

In an interview with Citinews, ADO1 Nartey explained that contradictory accounts given by persons give him cause to believe that the tenants are being economical in an attempt to protect their landlady.

He explained, “The tenants said there was no one trapped in the building. They said for about 6 months now, no work has been going on in the building. But then, when we talked to a neighbour, he said there was someone plastering and when he figured out that the building was about to collapse, he came out and called people out. So, it’s contradictory, I think the tenants are being economical with the truth obviously to protect their landlady”.

Touching on what could have caused the collapse, ADO1 Nartey indicated that, the cause of the collapse cannot be confirmed however, the GNFS is working assiduously to identify the cause. He doubted if the proper building materials were used to construct the building.

“The actual cause of the collapse has not been established, but I doubt if proper building materials were used or precautions were adhered to,” Nartey said. “The tenants were attributing it to yesterday’s rains, but that shouldn’t be the case of bringing a whole building down.”

In the late hours of Saturday, September 23, a three-storey building under construction behind Ofankor Market near Asofan collapsed. According to the caretaker of the building, he woke up on Saturday morning to discover that the pillars were sinking. Within 30 minutes after noticing the pillars sinking, the entire structure came down.

This happened today at Ofankor. No news of any fatalities at the moment pic.twitter.com/tWCnhUSoQF
— Nana Kwaku Agyemang (@kwasinom) September 23, 2023