Kumasi: 50-year-old woman drowns after wooden footbridge collapses [Video]

A 50-year-old woman identified as Akosua Dufie, has been confirmed dead after she was washed away by a flood following Thursday evening’s downpour at Anloga in the Oforikrom Municipality of the Ashanti Region.

According to eyewitnesses, the deceased, together with one other person, attempted to cross a weak wooden footbridge in the area, but unfortunately got drowned after the bridge collapsed.

They said efforts to rescue the woman proved futile.

“The rains started around 5:30 pm yesterday [Thursday], and the whole place was flooded, but people were using the [weak] bridge. The woman also got here and when she saw others using the bridge, she also joined. About four people went ahead while she followed them together with a young man. When they got to the middle of the bridge, it broke, and they fell into the water. They were all able to get out of the water, except one woman who couldn’t make it,” an eyewitness said.

Another eyewitness said one of the young guys tried to rescue the 50-year-old woman, but because of the weight of the woman and the strong current of the rushing water, he was unsuccessful.

The Oforikrom Municipal Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Awudu Mohammed, told Citi News the body of the deceased has been retrieved while officers are yet to commence investigations into the incident.

“The body was found this [Friday] morning at 6:00 am. The people in the community were able to assist NADMO officials to retrieve the body. When something like this happens, we call the police, so they take over and continue their investigations. So we have informed the police, and we are waiting for them to come and take over the investigation,” he added.

This incident comes a day after a one-year-old boy also drowned during a downpour at Sawaba in the same Kumasi Metroplolis.

3 children hospitalized in a building collapse after heavy rain in Kumasi

Three children were also hospitalized at Atasemanso in the Kumasi metropolis after the fence wall of a building collapsed following a downpour on Wednesday, June 23, 2021.

Scores of residents in major parts of the Kumasi metropolis have been displaced by the rain, with their property destroyed.

Fuel stations, houses, and church buildings were the worst affected.

—citinewsroom