Two Naval Men Die In Training Sessions

Two soldiers of the Ghana Navy died in two separate incidents during training sessions in Takoradi.

In the first incident, a rating, identified as Dickson Amoah, was allegedly shot in the thigh with a live bullet which was not supposed to be used for training sessions.

He was flown to the 37 Military Hospital where he died from excessive bleeding.

In the second incident, Nicholas Abi Ekuaso, who was based in Tema, got drowned during training with five others at the Navy Trade Training School in Takoradi.

The case has since been reported to the police in Sekondi.

The Head of Public Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) acknowledged the two incidents and said the GAF had launched investigations into them.

In the shooting incident, the training was supposed to have been conducted with the routine blank bullets.

After the incident, some officers and men of the Ghana Navy and the family of the deceased raised questions as to how a soldier could perish during a training exercise which did not require the use of live ammunition.

Military guidelines require that when a weapon is picked from the Armoury, the duty officer is supposed to check the magazine to verify if it is live.

The officer or the soldier receiving the weapon also has to double check.

Additionally, the duty officer in charge of the training is supposed to supervise another check of every weapon for any live ammunition.

Questions have, therefore, been raised by friends and family members of the deceased on whether the checks had been carried out and how the live bullet found its way the weapon which killed the officer.

In the drowning incident, the deceased, Ekuaso, was swimming without the necessary protective gear during the training session.

He is said to have called for help while he gulped water but no soldier at the base was able to dive to rescue him.