Seven Lawra SHS students drown in River Dikpe

A routine morning drill turned deadly on Saturday, June 14, 2025, when seven students from Lawra Senior High School tragically drowned in the River Dikpe after a canoe they were riding in capsized.

The students, all members of the school’s cadet corps, had embarked on their usual early morning jogging session when the incident occurred.

In what authorities describe as a spontaneous decision, the group of ten attempted to cross the river in a canoe after spotting a man using it to traverse the water.

But the ride took a disastrous turn. Midway across the river, the canoe flipped, tossing all ten students into the current. While three of them managed to swim to safety, seven were dragged under by the surging waters.

As of the latest reports, five bodies have been retrieved, and desperate search efforts are still underway to recover the remaining two.

The group’s decision to board the canoe was unplanned and made on the spur of the moment. There was no safety gear involved, and the vessel, described as small and unstable, was not equipped to carry such a number of passengers.

The Police and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) have yet to issue an official statement, but a wave of grief has already swept across the Lawra community and beyond.

What began as a morning of discipline and physical training has ended in unspeakable loss—seven young lives, full of promise, cut short in a moment of tragic misjudgment.