The body of a Ghanaian fisheries observer, Samuel Abayitey, who went missing about a month ago has reportedly been discovered.
Confirming the disappearance two weeks ago, the Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Moses Anim, said the ministry had launched an investigation into the case.
However, a brother of the deceased, Emmanuel Eugene Dorpumor, speaking to the media said Samuel Abayitey’s decapitated body was discovered near Tema on Saturday, December 9.
“We received information last month that they woke up around 1 am and they were looking for him inside the ship but they couldn’t find him. His colleagues said they were chatting with him in the evening and that they were with him inside the ship but they couldn’t find him when they woke up around 1 am. They said they searched everywhere on the ship but they couldn’t find him.
“Last Saturday, we went to the seashore in the evening and found him dead. We were able to identify the body and so the police from Tema came for the body and so the body is now with the police. His head was not there when we found him but since he is our brother, we knew he was the one,” Dorpumor told Citi News in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report.
He appealed to the Ghana Police Service to carry out a thorough investigation as details surrounding the fisheries observer’s death remain unclear.
Samuel Abayitey is the second fisheries observer who disappeared from a fishing vessel they were attached.
Emmanuel Essien also went missing without a trace from the trawler Meng Xin 15 on July 5, 2019.
He was reported missing after failing to return to the cabin he shared with three Chinese crew members.
A police investigation found “no signs of violence or anything incriminating”.