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08.09.2011 Tragedy

20 Bodies Recovered From Volta Lake Accident - Search Continues

By Daily Graphic
20 Bodies Recovered From Volta Lake Accident - Search Continues
08.09.2011 LISTEN

The Kete-Krachi District Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), has confirmed 20 bodies have so far been retrieved from the Volta Lake after a pontoon they were traveling on sunk at a village called Kpevi, near Krachi.

Mr Amuda Baba Seidu told Myjoyonline.com that the search for bodies and survivors is continuing.

He however admitted the rescue effort is greatly hampered by the lack of speedboats – essential equipment even the Ghana Navy helping in the rescue effort lack.

Overcrowding, according to him, was obviously responsible for the Tuesday disaster.

Mr Seidu claimed the residents ignored the advice of the Navy who insisted the Pontoon was incapable of ferrying all the 70 passengers aboard.

Systems put in place to check overloading of boats on the Volta Lake, he conceded, are not working as they ought to.

The mainly traders aboard the pontoon were from Kete-Krachi to Ekpedzi in the Volta region when the pontoon reportedly ran into a wood stump which perforated it and caused a gush of water to fill it. This created panic and pandemonium.

An eyewitness, Lumovi Kojo earlier told Asempa News his sister and her children as well as his nephew may have died in the accident.

He said that residents in the village came to the rescue of the victims but managed to rescue only 20 passengers.

Source - Myjoyonline.com





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