Nine pupils have been confirmed dead in a boat accident in Ghana’s Greater Accra region on Wednesday after a boat transporting them to school capsized.
The school children were said to be traveling from Faana to Kelee in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region.
They were between the ages of 8 and 15, 3news.com reported on Thursday.
Bodies of eight of the kids found earlier were sent to the Korle Teaching Hospital morgue.
The body of the 9th child was retrieved on Thursday morning after a desperate search by youth in the community.
There are conflicting reports as to what exactly caused the boat accident. Some residents attribute it to the spillage of the Weija Dam while some reports also blame tidal waves.
According to myjoyonline.com, twelve people including the boat owner were on the boat when the incident happened, killing nine of them.
Three people managed to swim to safety, while one child was unaccounted for until the morning of Thursday when her body was discovered.
The Municipal Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Christian Afiadenyo, told local media that three pupils survived the boat accident.
He also said one boy among the pupils was operating the boat before the incident occurred though he is not sure about this information.
Mr Afiadenyo said the boy may have been one of the three survivors.
The town is said to have been thrown into a state of mourning since the incident occurred.
The bodies of the deceased have been sent to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital mortuary in Accra for preservation and police have also called on parents of the victims to help identify their kin, the news website reports.
Meanwhile, the owner of the capsized boat has been reportedly picked up by the police to assist in the investigation.