Boy, 2, drowns in well

A two-year-old boy has been found dead in an open well about 200 metres from his home two days after he was reported missing at Gbawe in the Greater Accra Region.

The well is an out-of-use facility that still holds some water.

The boy was left in the care of his 10-year-old sister while the mother visited the salon, but could not be traced when the mother returned home.

After searching for him without success in the neighbourhood and from friends and family relations, the parents lodged a complaint with the Gbawe Police.

Police confirmation

The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge, said the police received the report of the missing boy, identified as David Kofi Anokye, on July 15, 2020 and joined in the search for him.

She said the boy’s mother, Ms Bernice Anokye of Gbawe Flower Junction, told the police that she had left the child in the care of his elder sister while she left for the salon about 4 p.m.

When she returned, her husband and her eldest daughter had already started the search for Anokye, who was last seen playing with some children in the neighbourhood.

After a long search, the parents reported Anokye’s disappearance to the traditional authority at the Gbawe chief’s palace and then to the Lafa Police Station at Gbawe for assistance.

The police, Mrs Tenge said, put up notices to help trace the whereabouts of the boy, and while the search was ongoing, the body was found in an open well located about 200 metres from the home of the family.

The body was removed by the police, who said they had found his clothes intact, with no assault marks on the body.

Residents

Residents, especially women, were driven to an emotional edge, with some crying out loudly as the body was recovered.

The Member of Parliament for the area, Ms Tina Gifty Naa Ayeley Mensah, who doubles as a Deputy Minister of Health, and the Assembly Member for the area, Mr Andy Oppong Amoako, visited the family to console them.

Ms Mensah observed that there were open wells and manholes in the area which posed a danger to especially children who were now home all day because of state measures induced by the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Amoako said he would work with the municipal assembly to ensure that all open manholes in the area were either covered or destroyed.