UPDATE: 2 Beauty contestants drown during photo shoot at beach
Two students got drowned, after they were struck by a strong wave. The disaster occurred while they were taking photographs as part of the ‘Face of USAG’ beauty contest at the Oasis Beach Restaurant in Cape Coast last Thursday evening.
The body of one of the students has been recovered, while the second person is yet to be found.
The deceased has been identified as Lily Ampofowaa Asiedu, a student of the University of Ghana, while the name of the missing student has been given as Ms Sara Kwarteng of the Mampong Campus of the University of Education, Winneba.
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The body of the deceased has been deposited at the University of Cape Coast Hospital morgue.
Two other ladies and a gentleman, who were all part of the photo shoot, are on admission.
The students who were attending the annual congress of the University Students Association (USAG) at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) had gone to undertake a photo shoot session for the Face of USAG when the tragic incident occurred.
Information
According to one of the rescuers, the beauty contestants had gone to the beach behind the Oasis Beach Restaurant for a photo shoot and decided to swim but they were hit by strong waves.
Four of them were rescued and rushed to the hospital, but one was pronounced dead on arrival. The body of the fifth student is yet to be found.
The Regional Police Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ms Irene Oppong, confirmed the incident and said the police had initiated investigation into the matter.
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UCC Public Affairs
The Director of Public Affairs of the University of Cape Coast, Major Kofi Baah Bentum (retd), told the Daily Graphic that the ladies were part of a programme being organised in collaboration with the Students Representative Council (SRC) of UCC and SRCs of other tertiary institutions.
He said there were a lot of activities lined up for the programme and could have included the beauty contest.
Meanwhile, the parents of the deceased have been informed of the death of their daughter.