All the four persons who went missing in the boat disaster that occurred in the White Volta at Daboya in the North Gonja District of the northern region have been found. The boat capsized on Tuesday at about 8 am when it was returning from Tolon District to Daboya, police sources in the area told Zaa News. Among the three were two children of a police officer stationed at Daboya, Inspector Muniru Alhassan. Three of them were found dead on the banks of the river by the locals.
Inspector Muniru accompanied his wife together with their three children on a boat and crossed to a lorry station where the wife boarded the vehicle.
While returning to Daboya with his three children, Inspector Muniru and the children joined ten other passengers and on reaching the river banks, the boat met with a strong rainstorm in an opposite direction.
An eye witness told Zaa News that, the police officer managed to rescue only one of his children leaving two who had unfortunately lost their lives. ’’We were in a funeral and all of a sudden we heard people wailing around the river; everybody rushed there,’’ the eye witness narrated. Among the victims, according to the eye witness, were mourners of the funeral and traders.
A search by the locals resulted to the recovery of two dead bodies on Wednesday morning before the rescue team arrived.
The team comprised marine police led by ASP Daniel Dadzie; National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), led by regional coordinator, Alhaji Abdulai Silimboma mounted the search for the two missing bodies as at 3: 15pm on Wednesday, August 27, 2014.
After almost an hour search, the search team returned without a body. ’’Inside the water is very dark and we couldn’t see anything,’’ a marine police told Zaa News at the scene.
Madam Constance Abiba Alhassan is the NADMO coordinator for North Gonja district. Residents in Daboya and its surrounding communities told Zaa News they prefer crossing the river and taking Daboya-Tolon road which is about 60 kilometers to Busunu-Daboya road with about 130 kilometers
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