Vice President: At least one dead in collapsed Melcom shopping centre

Accra , Nov 7, GNA - At least one person is dead, while an unknown number of persons  are  trapped under rubble of the collapsed building that housed the Achimota branch of the Melcom Shopping Centre in Accra.   Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, who went to the site on Wednesday, said rescue workers were trying to reach the trapped persons and provide ventilation to them.   He has declared the collapse of the building a national disaster.     Earth moving equipment are trying to make sure that ventilation reaches those trapped.   Vice President Amissah Arthur said two people were taken out of the rubble initially but one did not survive.   Some of the trapped people were speaking and there was the need to have silence for rescue workers to hear them and reach them early, he said.   "They (rescue team) are trying to find ways to get ventilation to them," Mr Amissah-Arthur said, and appealed to the hundreds of onlookers around the area to move further away from the scene to enable the rescue team to effectively carry out their duty.       Asked about the cause of collapse of the building, the Vice President  said it was  not the time to speculate and added  "Let us rescue those trapped now," he said, adding that the rescue of those under the rubble was a matter of priority.   Mr Amissah-Arthur said the number of those trapped was unknown and asked members of the public to cooperate with the task force at the site, made up of the Fire Service, National Ambulance, Police and a detachment from the Ghana Armed Forces to do their work.   The Vice President was accompanied by Ms Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuye, Mayor of Accra, Lieutenant General  (rtd) Henry Smith, Minister of Defence, and MadamElizabeth Sackey, Member of Parliament of Okaikoi North.    The six-storey building was believed to have collapsed around 0940 hours with an unknown number of people trapped inside.    An official statement signed by John Abdulai Jinapor, Presidential Spokesperson, said the President had directed the Vice President, Mr Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, the Chief of Staff, Mr John Martey Newman the Interior and Defence Ministers and the Security Chiefs to supervise and coordinate the rescue efforts.    The statement said President Mahama had suspended his campaign tour of the Upper East Region and was heading to the site of the collapsed building at Achimota.   It said the President was minutes away from his first point of call, Bawku, when he received briefing from the Chief of Staff on the incident.   “The President was informed about the collapse of the building a short while ago and he is returning to Accra immediately,” a source close to the president told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) earlier.   The the president’s convoy, which was close to Bawku, turned around to return to Bolgatanga, the regional capital.   A message to Castle correspondents from Mr Jinapor read: “The President has suspended his campaign in the wake of trapped persons in the collapse of the Achiomota Melcom building.” The president was due to visit Bawku, Garu Tampe, Zebila and Binduri among others on Wednesday.   A number of people are feared to have been killed. Rescue teams are at the site trying to reach survivors.   GNA... Read Full Story