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More than 30 people are believed to be trapped in rubble after a four-storey school collapsed in Accra, Ghana's capital, on Sunday

More than 30 people are believed to be trapped in rubble after a four-storey school collapsed.

The building forming part of the Accra New Town Experimental Basic School in Accra, Ghana's capital, gave way on Sunday after a heavy rainstorm, according to local outlets. The structure, which is said to have been only 14 years old, was reportedly hosting Christian worshippers when it began collapsing.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the number of people trapped or injured. According to United Television Ghana, more than 30 worshippers are believed to be trapped in the rubble, while online site GhanaPage reports that as many as 40 people are trapped. At least eight people have been rescued so far, 3News reports.

Residents and bystanders rushed to the scene after the collapse, helping to rescue victims and worshippers with their bare hands and basic tools before emergency services arrived. The Ghana Police Service, the National Disaster Management Organisation and the Ghana National Fire Service are currently carrying out the rescue operations.

Severe flooding hit Accra overnight on Sunday, submerging streets in several neighbourhoods, including Nima, Kaneshie, Dansoman, Kasoa and Mallam Junction. Although the Ghana Meteorological Agency had issued a 24-hour warning, the floods reportedly caused power outages across the Greater Accra region, in the southeastern part of the west African country.

It comes after a military helicopter crashed in Ghana in August last year, killing all eight people on board, including the country’s defence and environment ministers and two other top officials, the government said. The crash was one of Ghana's worst air disasters in more than a decade.

The Ghanaian military said the helicopter took off in the morning from Accra and was heading northwest into the interior toward the gold-mining area of Obuasi in the Ashanti region when it went off the radar. The wreckage was later found in the Adansi area of Ashanti.