Tragedy As Accra Mall Collapses

Rescue efforts are continuing following the collapse of a four storey department store in Ghana's capital Accra yesterday, an event which killed at least seven people and injured dozens more. The latest reports put the number of those rescued from the collapsed building at 61, although how many people are still trapped in the rubble is unknown. Israeli experts were set to arrive in Accra to help rescue efforts this afternoon.

 According to Reuters, Kofi Portuphy, the head of Ghana's National Disaster Management Organisation, said: "It is now clear that more people were in the shop than initially estimated, and it is difficult to tell the actual numbers at this moment. "Certainly the conditions of any survivors down there will be deteriorating and it is our hope to get them out as quickly as we can."

Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama suspended his election campaign to return to Accra where he visited the site and some of those rescued from the site. Mahama has also promised there will be a thorough investigation into the cause of the building's collapse. Melcom, the company that owns the store and the biggest chain of retail stores in Ghana, closed all of their stores in Accra today out of respect for those who lost their lives in the collapse.