The scene of Melcom disaster

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Accra, Monday November 12, 2012.

There appears to be no hope for survivors in last Wednesday’s six-storey Melcom building disaster that claimed more than a dozen lives as the Israeli rescue team left unceremoniously.

Disaster management officials including the military, police and even foreign experts have been working round the clock to save lives at the Achimota site in Accra where the building collapsed but to no avail.

Since Saturday, only a few dead bodies were retrieved from the rubble, sparking fears that victims might never be rescued alive.

To make matters worse the eight-member Israeli team with their dog that arrived on Thursday to supervise the rescue operation, left at about 1pm on Saturday after they said it was not possible anybody was alive.

According to Colonel M’Bawine Atintande, Director of Public Relations at the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), as at Sunday morning, 69 victims had been removed alive since the operation begun but one victim who was at the Police Hospital before being transferred to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital all in Accra died thereby bringing the death toll to 14 so far.

Giving a breakdown of the number of victims, Col. Atintande said at a news conference on Saturday that 67 people were hospitalized but 52 had been discharged with 15 still on admission.

He said the Israeli search team had said with about 50 per cent of the debris cleared from the scene and per their search it was not possible victims would be removed alive.

He said “The rescue workers have reached the ground floor from the rear of the building. They have now access to the staircase, which will help the workers to identify other very important areas in the collapsed structure such as the prayer area where it was expected many people would have been located prior to the incident.”

The military officer further said there were three teams working from three fronts adding “About 50 percent of the debris have been cleared or removed.”

He said work had been slow mainly because “We anticipate we could get people alive or if they are dead not to have their bodies mangled,” and noted “The work is painstaking and it is very right to be so.”

The Israeli Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li asked Ghanaians to be resolute in the face of the national disaster and said the government of Israel was ever ready to assist Ghana in any form.

Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, Deputy Minister of Health commended the government of Israel for sending experts to assist the rescue operation saying “No amount of money would compensate you for what you have done.”

PROTEST

The scene of the tragedy which many believe is the first of its kind is reminiscent of a construction site with different kinds of earth-moving equipment on hand for the operation.

An expert from Turkey whose name was given as Yasin, assisting in the rescue operation left the scene on Saturday night in protest.

He had accused the Ghanaian rescuers for refusing to follow the instructions given by the Israelis in the exercise.

Later at about 1:30 pm Sunday, another body was found mangled due to the manner in which the excavator had been used in retrieving it.

Emmanuel Quarcoo is believed be a galamsay operator whose service has been invaluable to the rescuers.

He managed to enter into the holes to locate bodies.

Some of the staff of the supermarket giant have however been complaining about the harsh conditions under which they work for Melcom.

Joana Elemawusi, Lucy Ampofo and Jennifer said they are not even allowed to send mobile phones to the work place, apart from being paid meager monthly salaries.

The Indian owners of the shop have been assisting the rescuers to locate victims.