By Ibrahim S. Bangura and George M.O. Williams
At least 16 people have died, and dozens were unaccounted for when a seven-storey building collapsed Monday morning in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, hospital sources said Thursday.
Mr. Sinneh Kamara, Administrative Assistant University of Sierra Leone Connaught Teaching Hospital Complex, said the dead included five children.
Rescue teams have been searching for dozens of residents who are missing as the rescue efforts continue the third day.
So far eight people have been rescued from the rubble since the building collapsed along Bai Bureh Road, Shell New Road, east of Freetown around 11 a.m. local time on Monday, the National Disaster Management Agency, NDMA, said in a statement on Wednesday. A child was rescued yesterday and was responding to treatment.
The rescue operation is estimated to take days.
What caused the new building to collapse remains unclear.
It is uncertain how many people were in the building when it came down. What is certain is that many people including children, were at home because the country was observing a national holiday when the accident struck.
The death toll is expected to rise as debris from the seven-storey building fell on three apartments nearby.
The NDMA has confirmed that more people remain trapped beneath the debris, with some able to communicate their locations to rescuers.
It said that rescue teams are currently clearing rubble on the third floor to access lower levels where more residents are believed to be trapped. Operations will continue progressively downwards, according to NDMA.
“Despite the use of heavy machinery, rescue operations have been significantly hindered by the lack of access to the ground level. Excavators and cranes are working from the top, lifting heavy debris and clearing broken floors to reach the lower levels,” it said in the statement.
In addition to the machinery and fuel support provided by Gento Group of Companies and JP Logistics, Marampa Mines has also deployed equipment to assist with the rescue efforts.
The NDMA, in collaboration with its partners, remains fully committed to the ongoing search and rescue operations, prioritizing the safe recovery of any remaining trapped individuals.