By J. Peter S. Dennis, dennisrealone@gmail.com
A tower operated by Orange Liberia constructed in Zowienta has fallen to the ground in central Bong County.
There was no human casualty reported, although it destroyed homes, and other materials including valuables recently.
The total length of the tower is unknown, as it has been providing communication services (network) to inhabitants of the area.
It’s one of the tallest towers in the county that attracts communication for GSM operations.
The tower, according to one of the victims and residents of the town, Mr. Gurley Flomo was constructed in 2011.
According to Gurley, the unfortunate situation was noticed after a storm that began by 9PM on Saturday.
Shortly after, he says one of the securities on duty called citizens’ attention to the incident.
In no time, he says the tower fell, as he could not relocate those houses including his in seconds.
“We were in bed when we heard the security shouting that the tower is falling. So we came outside to see, but before coming, we already saw it on the ground. You see all these houses, the tower passed through them” he said.
“We were very blessed that no one got hurt, or died,” he noted in a sad tone.
He alleged that there was a fault during the construction of the tower in 2011, something that may have caused its collapse, although no authority from the county or Orange Liberia has confirmed or denied the assertion.
Mr. Gurley begged for support to recondition those affected homes to restore dignity.
Some of the victims also begged for intervention.
“We want help. We want our homes reconditioned” they pleaded.
Meanwhile, securities officers assigned to the facility declined to speak with journalists on the matter saying they were not instructed.
Up to press time, there has been no official communication from the management of Orange Liberia regarding the incident.
It’s not also clear whether other communication equipment were tempered with as wires, among others were seen scattered around the perimeter of the occurrence.
Since the incident, it has drawn public attention with many calling for intervention.
With this latest situation, citizens have called on the Ministries of Public Works and the Telecommunications authority to be proactive of their respective scope operations across the county considering the colonial time that most of these projects were initiated.
A fact finding journalistic team who visited the area on Monday, April 4, 2022 saw damaged houses as access roads were blocked.