An 11-year-old child was operating the boat in the catastrophic Kete Krachi accident in the Oti region, according to Foster Dzre, the Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) for Oti.
Fifteen individuals, including eleven children, were killed in the tragedy that happened on Volta Lake, and one person is still unaccounted for.
Mr. Dzre clarified that the boat, which capsized halfway through its voyage, was a fishing vessel with about 20 people on board in an interview with JoyNews’ Maame Esi Thompson.
He stated that the victims were primarily youngsters between the ages of two and fourteen, with three adults—ages 58, 48, and 36—being among them.
“The boat that they use for fishing is not that big, so you can see that the people who are on board are kids. Even the person handling the boat was an 11-year-old boy,”
“We provide life jackets to commercial boats, but this particular boat was a private one used mainly for fishing,” He stressed.
Given that the majority of passengers lacked life jackets, Mr. Dzre voiced his grave concern about the lax implementation of safety regulations on the lake. The identification of the dead was carried out in cooperation with the Navy and Police forces participating in the rescue and recovery effort, Mr. Dzre said, and the fatalities were all Okuma community residents.
The reason of the disaster is being investigated jointly by the Ghana Navy and the Ghana Maritime Authority, among other authorities. In order to guarantee adherence to safety regulations on the nation’s waterways, the Ghana Maritime Authority has also reaffirmed the urgent need for more robust enforcement capabilities.
Source: Joy News
