Latest reports received by Xinhua late Wednesday confirmed that more than 50 people had so far been rescued from the rubble of the collapsed six-storey shopping building in Ghana's capital Accra.

Dr. Ahmed Zakaria, head of Ghana Ambulance Service, confirmed to the media that "so far, 54 survivors have been rescued." But the death toll has not been confirmed yet. Earlier officials of the Ghana Police Service told Xinhua that at least three people died in the collapse.

A combined team of the Police, Military, Fire Service and the National Ambulance Service working under the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) went straight into rescue action after the incident.

The six-storey ultra-modern Melcom Shopping Center located at Achimota, a suburb of Accra, collapsed in the morning of Wednesday, trapping both workers and patrons under the rubble.

Judith Atitse, a 25-year-old student of Accra Polytechnic, said she had gone to the shop in the morning to buy a hair attachment. She had been asked by one of the shop assistants to go and return later while the staff was having their morning prayers before the start of work.

"No sooner had I left the place than I heard a loud noise like that of an earthquake. When I turned to see what was happening, I saw the building from which I had come out a little earlier completely collapsed," she told Xinhua at the scene.

Other eye witnesses told Xinhua that the building was constructed within a few months.

Melcom Limited is the largest chain of retail department stores in Ghana. It was reported that 50 people were believed to have been in the shopping center at the time of the incident.

There was no immediate official explanation about the reason of the collapse.

In an interview with Xinhua, Director of the City Metro Office Sam Aryeh Darteh said the owners of the building did not obtain the requisite permit to build it.

"As late as Tuesday, the owner, Nana Nkansah Boadu, had brought an application for 'rezoning' to my office, seeking the place to be changed from a residential area to a commercial area, which tells you there was no license in place yet for a building," Dartey said.

The management of Melcom issued a statement late Wednesday, describing the incident as unfortunate in which they feared the loss of life of their staff.

Following the incident, President John Dramani Mahama was compelled to suspend his campaign tour of the Upper East Region and return to the capital.

Speaking to the media on his visit to the accident scene, the president observed that the disaster was a pointer to the failure in enforcing the country's building codes, especially concerning high-rise buildings, and promised a probe into the matter.

"My focus now is to rescue the people trapped in there and getting them rescued alive," he stated, but warned: "Those who are responsible for this disaster will have to pay the price for their negligence."

The president also promised that a mechanism was going to be set up "to ascertain the safety or otherwise of other high-rising buildings in the country to see if they are safe or some disaster awaits us again, as Accra is an earthquake zone."

Other high rank officials including Vice-President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Trade and Industry Minister Hannah Tetteh, Chief of Staff Henry Martey Newman were also present on the scene to guide the rescues. Endi

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