Afram Plains Volta Lake disaster: Six more bodies recovered

As of 8 pm on Saturday, six more bodies had been retrieved from last Thursday's boat disaster on the Volta Lake in the Afram Plains area of the Eastern Region.

That brings to seven bodies so far retrieved.

They are made up of the boat operator and six females including one pregnant woman (the wife of the operator) and a small girl, reports Graphic Online's Severious Kale-Dery.

Apart from the female who was retrieved last Friday and deposited at the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Church Hospital, all the six retrieved Saturday [May 30, 2020] have since been identified and buried by their families because the bodies had started decomposing.

It took a combined effort of local fishermen, divers, the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) officials in the area in the company of the District Chief Executive (DCE) of the Kwahu Afram Plains North, Mr Samuel Kena and the hospital manager of the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Church Hospital, Rev Ezekiel Amadu Daribi to retrieve the bodies.

Briefing Graphic Online's Severious Kale-Dery after the rescue mission, Rev Daribi said three of the disaster victims were currently in the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Church Hospital receiving treatment with some degree of burns.

He told Graphic Online that the three women receiving treatment at the hospital claimed that the disaster occurred because of heavy wind which caused the boat to hit a tree stump, and subsequently split.

Rev Daribi said the boat operator, believed to be within the age range of 20 and 25 and the small girl were both buried at Agalakope, a nearby community where the bodies were found in a bad state.

Commenting on the disaster, Rev Daribi urged boat owners and operators to avoid over-loading, adding that, it was important for the “boat owners/operators to always ensure that, passengers on board put-on life jackets, to ensure their safety in an event of an accident.”

He said it was clear that none of the passengers were in a life jacket and that was what made the situation worse and that it was feared that with the exception of the three that survived, the rest were all dead.

Related story:  Volta Lake boat disaster claims 10 lives

Rev Daribi further added that it was equally important that the boat owners /operators made effort to always study the weather (especially wind, heavy rainfall) very carefully before leaving shores.

He expressed regret that the current speculations regarding the number on board at the time of the disaster could have been avoided if there was the opportunity to record the number of people on board at shores before taking off.

While praying for the souls of the deceased for a perfect peaceful rest, Rev Daribi was convinced that from today, the rest of the dead bodies would start floating and commended the fisherfolks for their role in the search team.

He explained that the incident occurred close to a number of communities including Agalakope and Camaleon, where those bodies were recovered and urged the members of the other communities to also look out for other bodies that might be washed ashore.

The disaster occured on the Volta Lake last Thursday when a boat carrying an unspecified number of persons capsized.

One body was recovered on Friday while emergency teams, including local divers, continued the search for the remaining passengers.

The boat, which was carrying mostly traders from Dzemeni in the Volta Region, was heading to Donkorkrom in the Afram Plains area of the Eastern Region when it capsized midway through the journey near Anivizi, a village along the Volta Lake.