DOZENS TRAPPED AS BUILDING COLLAPSES IN SIERRA LEONE

Bo City, Sierra Leone

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone

A three-storey building collapsed in Sierra Leone on Wednesday trapping dozens of people, officials and survivors said.

The incident occurred in the southern city of BO, the second-largest city in the West African country after the capital, Freetown.

More than 80 people were working on the building, which was under construction, police said.

Rescue operations were ongoing, with nine people rescued and receiving medical treatment, Joseph Kpanabom, an official at the Ministry of Lands, said.

"By every indication, this is a case of poor construction work and poor engineering work," Kpanabom told DPA news agency.

Two excavators have been deployed to the site to help with the rescue operation, according to officials.

Assistant Inspector General of Police, Saidu Kamara, confirmed that nine people have been rescued and are receiving treatment at a hospital.

He describes the scene as “pathetic and frantic” and says rescue efforts are expected to continue through the night after the Wednesday afternoon collapse along the Bo-Kenema highway in the country’s Southern Province.

"The mood at the scene is sombre. Our men with excavators will continue the rescue throughout the night to try and save more survivors,” Saidu Kamara, assistant inspector general of police, told Radio Democracy.

Kamara said at least 50 people are trapped in the rubble.

The missing are believed to include mainly construction workers and some bystanders.

"I ran away after I heard the sound of the building cracking," Ibrahim Aruna, a survivor, said.

It is not immediately clear what caused the building to collapse. Kamara says police have deployed two excavators to the site. - Africa