The District Director of the National Disaster Management organization (NADMO) at Asene Akroso Manso Willingston Gyan has said eight people have so far been rescued in the collapsed building at Akyem Bataabi in the Eastern Region.
According to him, an old woman was also rescued just Wednesday morning.
He also confirmed that nine people have so far died.
The 3-storey building known as the Church of Prosperity and owned by Prophet Akuwa Isaac collapsed on Tuesday afternoon trapping over 60 people.
Speaking on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show, Mr Gyan said NADMO is unable to confirm the exact number of congregants when the church building collapsed. He also confirmed the church structure has been there for the past 24-years now.
” An engineer told the owner of the church to seize continuation of the building due to the structural deficiency of the building, but they do not have any explanation to what happened exactly. NADMO is still investigating into the collapse of the building,” he stated.
According to him “the way it was going we noticed it was very worrying. This is getting us worried because we have a municipal engineer here”.
As to whether the owner of the building had the permit to build or not Mr Gyan said the NADMO has no such information.
He said “When we find a structural defect on a building we report to the Municipal and Engineer and inform him to take action”
By Richard Bright Addo |3news.com|Ghana