At least nine children in Ghana have drowned at Faanaa, an island community in the Greater Accra region of the country.
Local media reported that the boat that capsized was being paddled by a minor of twelve years.
The pupils are said to have drowned while returning from school. Three of the children on the boat managed to swim to safety.
Patrick Kumor, the head of the local assembly the Weija-Gbawe Municipal Assembly, where the incident happened, said investigations have revealed that the man in charge of the canoe was unwell and unavailable to ferry the children across the water body.
A 12-year-old boy took his stead and overloaded the canoe with other minors resulting in the unfortunate accident.
“The information we picked is that the boat was overloaded with minors and the person who was paddling it was a twelve year-old-boy who had no experience and was the one controlling the canoe at the time of the incident. The person who often does that was ill and was not available at the moment to assist them,” he told local reporters.
In January this year, eight pupils drowned when they were crossing the Volta River to school.
They were among 20 others crossing the river from the Atikagome Community in the Sene East District of the Bono East Region to Wayokope.
The boat capsized midway into the journey. At least five people died in a Volta Lake accident after a boat they were traveling in capsized in March this year.
Source: Africafeeds.com
