3 Teenagers drown in White Volta at Naaga

Naaga, a community in the Kassena Nankana Municipality in the Upper East Region, was last Saturday thrown into a state of mourning when two siblings and their friend got drowned in the White Volta River.

The deceased, all teenagers, were among eight others who had gone to the river to wash mango fruits and also have a swim.

Unfortunately, they got drowned in the process around 3p.m. 

Victims

One of the teenagers, identified as Wisdom Akolikiba, whose body was retrieved from the river around 7p.m. on that fateful day by rescuers, has since been buried.

The body of the only girl among them, identified as Jessica Akolikiba, a sister of Wisdom, was found yesterday by the search party with no sign of decomposition.

Unfortunately, the body of the third person, identified as Nathaniel Baba, was yet to be retrieved by the search team as of press time yesterday.

How it happened

Information gathered by the Daily Graphic indicated that eight teenagers, between the ages of 11 and 17, went to pluck mango fruits from a big mango tree close to the river in the community since they were not allowed to pluck mangoes belonging to neighbours in the area.

After successfully plucking the mangoes, they decided to go into the river to wash the fruits since they were dirty and, in the process, they all jumped into the river to swim as well.

Unfortunately, they got carried away while swimming and swam towards the deep part of the river and the three got downed.

However, five of them managed to swim back to the riverside but the three others were carried away by the river.

The five teenagers who survived quickly rushed to the community to inform the elders and the youth about the incident who quickly mobilised and performed the required rituals to enable rescuers to enter the river to rescue them.

After four hours of search, the search party was able to retrieve the lifeless body of one of them around 7p.m. which was immediately handed over to his family to perform the needed rites before his burial.

The team went back the following day to continue but was unsuccessful after searching a whole day.

Community

The tragic incident has thrown the entire community into a state of grief and mourning as family members, friends and sympathisers of the deceased teenagers thronged their residences to commiserate with the bereaved families.

Many of them who could not hold back their emotions wept uncontrollably as they could not fathom why the teenagers died in  such a sorrowful and tragic manner.

The Assembly member for the Chaaba Electoral Area, David Anafo, in an interview, said another ritual had been performed as directed by the traditional priest and expressed the hope that the bodies of the two other teenagers would be found.

He noted that the sad incident shocked the community members as some abandoned their economic and social activities to join the search team at the riverside to search for the missing bodies.

Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament  for Navrongo Central, Sampson Tangombu Chiragia, last Sunday paid a visit to the town to commiserate with the bereaved families due to the unfortunate death of their children.

He encouraged the search party to go the extra mile to find the missing bodies to be given a befitting burial.

Writer’s email; gilbert.agbey@graphic.com.gh