Akufo-Addo mourns with affected families of collapsed church building

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed his condolences to the families of the Tuesday Akim Batabi church collapse in the Eastern Region.

The president, in a tweet on Thursday said, “On behalf of government and the people of Ghana, I send my deepest condolences to the families of the 15 persons who lost their lives tragically in the church building that collapsed at Akim Batabi near Oda.”

“I wish the eight injured persons speedy recovery,” he added.

The death toll since the collapse of the church building has risen from nine to sixteen.

The bodies have been retrieved from the debris in an operation that lasted an entire day.

The bodies include a 60-year-old woman, Afia Tameklo, who was said to have been clubbed to death by a falling pillar as she tried to escape.

The uncompleted three-storey building housing some church members has been there for some 25 years. It collapsed on Tuesday afternoon while church service was in session, strapping some 65 worshippers.

The bodies have since been deposited at the Oda Government Hospital mortuary.

When the Police visited victims at the same hospital, 30-year-old Clement Bentouah was the only victim on admission with a fractured right thigh.

Meanwhile, nurses on duty identified six other victims – Adu Godfred, 21; Erasmus Larnor, 25; Elizabeth Toot, 18; Bridget Binorey, 59; Jonas Larnor, 45, and Charity Addison, 38 – who were treated and discharged.

In a related incident, the pastor of the collapsed church building has been invited by the Akim Oda Divisional Police Command to assist in police investigations.