At least 22 people, including a baby, were killed when an unfinished three-storey building collapsed in eastern Ghana, emergency officials said on Friday.
The accident happened on Tuesday while a church community held a service in the building, which was still under construction, in the town of Akyem Batabi in the Eastern Region, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) official Richard Amo-Yartey said.
Among the dead are 11 women, a baby and 10 men, Amo-Yartey said.
A rescue team comprising emergency workers, police, soldiers and firefighters were searching for survivors trapped inside the building.
The number of those missing remained unclear on Friday, while eight injured people had been taken to hospital, according to Amo-Yartey.
Local media reported that more than 60 people were present at the site when the accident took place.Rescue teams were able to reach eight people but 22 bodies were pulled from the rubble in the Asene-Manso district, said Agyemang Prempeh, a coordinator with the National Disaster Management Organization.
Fearing the number of casualties may rise, he said search and rescue efforts are still ongoing while four more bodies were pulled from the debris after 18 people were reported dead.
Local media reported more than 60 people were at the site when the accident occurred.
Work on the building had started in 1994.
