The Engineering Council of Ghana says conducting a detailed forensic investigation on the collapse of three-storey building at Ofankor at the Ga North Municipality in Accra will be more challenging.
The Chairman for the Council explained that they are unable to conduct the investigation because owners and caretakers had cleared and disposed the entire debris from the site.
The Council notes it issued strict instructions to the caretaker to keep the place locked since it was a walled compound, to ensure that nothing interferes with the rubble until an official inspection by the Council’s technical team.
Unfortunately, by the time the team got to the site on Monday, the owners and caretakers had cleared and disposed the entire debris from the site.
The Council said despite the difficulty, they will work diligently with NADMO, the Police and other partners to ensure that investigations are conducted with the available debris, access to the site and information from the necessary collaborative state entities.
The Council reminds the public that anytime there is a disaster such as a building collapse, the location becomes a crime scene and any attempt to tamper with anything on site is also a crime and hampers effective investigations into the disaster.
The Council also urges the public to engage licensed engineering practitioners, firms and entities in the design, construction and supervision of all structures.