At least five people including two children have died when an overloaded boat capsized on Lake Volta in southern Ghana, local authorities have confirmed. The children are two and three months old.
According to the media report, the boat was overloaded and all passengers on board were not wearing life jackets.
The passengers were traveling from Azizanya to attend a funeral in Azizakpe before the unfortunate incident happened, the Ghana News Agency reported quoiting Godwin Agudey, Presiding Member, Ada-East Municipal Assembly as saying in an interview.
“Information gathered indicated that the boat which was supposed to carry about 40 to 50 people was loaded with close to 100 passengers, and while crossing, it capsized, ” he said to the news agency. The boat completely submerged in the water, adding that a search team, including the Navy and other stakeholders, was still rescuing the victims, he added.
“We are unable to tell the number of the people rescued because they were still working close to the Azizakpe island where they were attending the funeral, while others were being rescued back to Azizanya,” he said.
Rescuers including the Ghana Navy are still working to rescue survivors and retrieve the bodies.
Officials told the news agency that the storm tore the boat in two and threw all the passengers into the river. Rescuers are still looking for survivors.
Several boating disasters occurred on Lake Volta, most recently with the deaths of eight schoolchildren when the boat taking them to school capsized on January 24.
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