The death toll from the uncompleted Church building collapse incident in Akyem Batabi in the Eastern Region has increased from 18 to 22 as of 6:00 am Friday. A female Child has retrieved dead this dawn.
The death toll is out of 30 victims retrieved.
The deceased persons are made up of 13 females and 9 males. There are eight survivors so far.
The death toll is expected to increase as rescue workers worked throughout last night to enter day four of the rescue Operation.
There is a glimmer of hope as almost all the victims found by the rescue team after 24 hours of the incident are dead.
Already there is unbearable stench emitting from decomposing bodies still trapped under the rubbles.
Background
A survivor of the Church building collapse disaster has disclosed that they were fasting and praying for their Leader and Founder of the Church of Prosperity Prophet Akoa Isaac, who has been sick for some time now but took a break to rest in the uncompleted three-storey Church building when it suddenly caved in.
The collapse of the uncompleted three-storey Church building occurred Tuesday, October 20, 2020, at about 2:30 pm.
A joint rescue team made up of officials of the National Disaster Management Organization, NADMO, Ghana National Fire Service, Police, Ambulance Service, BNI, National Security and Military are still on grounds continuing with the rescue Operation.
The challenge now is the inability to establish the exact number of persons trapped under the rubbles.
Thirteen (13) victims were extricated on the first day of the rescue mission out of which 6 -all females were dead, one (1) in critical condition while 6 victims namely Adu Godfred, 21, Erasmus Larnor, 25, Elizabeth Toot, 18, Bridget Birorey, 59, Jonas Larnor, 45, and Charity Addison, 38 have been treated and discharged by the Oda Government Hospital.
According to the local Police, the Founder of Church of Prosperity, Prophet Isaac Ofori is popularly known as Akoa Isaac, was arrested to assist Police with the investigation but granted bail.
The founder of the Church Prophet Akoa Isaac has meanwhile told Police that, he was sick and lying in his residence near the Church building when he heard the implosion of the collapsed building.
He said he was told that about 56 worshippers were in and around the building fasting and praying when the incident occurred.
The construction of the collapsed the uncompleted Church building started in 1994 hence experts say its structural integrity was compromised.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Obed Ansah
