3 Drown After Canoe Capsizes

By Clement Adzei Boye

Takoradi — Disaster struck when three people, drowned at Ehyireso, when a canoe capsized on River Manfe, at Ehyireso, in the Prestea Huni Valley municipality of the Western Region.

They drowned when they attempted to cross the river by canoe to Ehyireso, a cocoa growing area, about four kilometres away from Bogoso, to convey fermented cocoa beans for drying.

The deceased, Nyiraba Abraham, a Sunday school teacher of the local Pentecost church, Halidu, a former Senior High School student and Iddrisu, a Junior High School final year student, have been deposited at the Wassa Akropong Government Hospital mortuary for postmortem.

The tragedy, according to eyewitnesses, had thrown the people of Ehyireso into a state of mourning, especially members of the local Pentecost church, who could not attend their usual morning Sunday service.

Sources confirmed that at about 4am, on Sunday, six people decided to cart fermented cocoa beans from their farms on the other bank of River Manfe at Ehyireso to the house for drying.

It said the six decided to cross the river in three batches, but, the other three joined tilting the canoe resulting in the calamity.

"As it was dawn, no help came. It was until about 6 oclock when the three, who survived raised the alarm for neighbours to rush to the river bank followed by the police," the source added, saying two bodies were found and the third body was found after some rituals were performed at the river bank.

The source said the people who travel by the metal canoe did not use paddles, but rather, ropes to pull it depending on which side users want to go.

Meanwhile, police sources at the Bogoso Police Station could not provide any details on the disaster to the Ghanaian Times.

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