8 persons die in boat accident on Oti River

Eight persons out of the eleven passengers onboard a canoe have died after it capsized on the Oti River.

The accident is reported to have happened on Monday, March 27.

The passengers were mourners traveling from Kpajoti, a village in the Krachi Nchumuru District to Sabaja in the Krachi West Municipality.

According to the Assemblyman of the Woringa Electoral area in the Oti region Francis Yaw Bio, the Canoe was supposed to carry six passengers but the operator carried eleven passengers.

All victims were without life jackets, according to an eyewitness.

Meanwhile, it was reported on the 20th of March that a canoe carrying mourners from Azizanya to Azizakpe capsized on the Volta Lake resulting in the deaths of at least five persons and several others missing.

Gabriel Ajigodi the Canoe operator was arrested by the Ada Foah Police to assist with investigations to unravel the circumstances under which the incident occurred.

Reports indicate that the operator overloaded the canoe putting all passengers in danger.

According to the Assembly Member of Azizakpe Electoral Area, Daniel Adzakpa the disaster struck because the canoe was overloaded.

He explained that the canoe, which was supposed to carry 25 passengers, surprisingly had over 60 people onboard.

Some of the survivors narrated that they alerted the operator about the overload and pleaded with him to return them to their boarding point at Azizanya but he refused.

The disaster, however, occurred mid-journey almost at their destination as the victims including children rushed to one end of the canoe thereby causing a weight imbalance that caused the accident.

Mary Donuki who lost her one-and-half-year-old baby blamed the operator for the disaster, calling for his prosecution as all of them were without life jackets.

The Ada District Court has ordered the remand of Gabriel Ajigodi in police custody as a key suspect in the boat accident.