500 passengers rescued from ‘sinking’ Yeji ferry

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Nearly five hundred passengers would have perished on board a Yeji-bound ferry from Makango near Tamale, but for the swift intervention of rescuers.

The ferry, reported to have been overloaded with about four cars, other cargo and passengers, started sinking due to a leakage.

Reports say the operators of the vessel identified a leakage and begun a process to get the passengers ashore by calling in rescue boats.

Two boats belonging to the Ghana Navy, which were on a training exercise in the area, came in swiftly to rescue the passengers and crew on-board.

The Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh, who confirmed the incident to Citi News, says, in the Makango area, this is the first time a ferry was capsizing although it happens with boats.

“At a point in time, the managers on-board detected that it was leaking and that water was entering the ferry so they quickly had to transfer all the passengers on-board onto another boat to take them offshore safely. So as we speak, nobody is reported dead and there is no casualty.”

“It was travelling from Makango to Yeji. Once in a while, cases of boats capsizing of Volta Lake are reported but I have not heard of Ferries capsizing in this side of the region. It mostly happens in other areas, but for these area it’s mostly the boats that capsize. And the last time I heard of a boat capsizing at Makango was three years ago.”

Afram Plains ferry accident

In January this year, one person drowned in a ferry accident at Afram Plains

One person drowned while several others were injured after a ferry crossing the Afram River on the Volta Lake sunk Saturday night.

The cause of that accident was also due to overloading. There have been previous ones mostly boat accidents that have taken human lives.

Faulty pontoons putting lives at risk on Volta Lake

On Monday February 1 2016, Citifmonline reported about travelers on the Volta Lake risking their lives making their journey on overcrowded boats as a result of a broken down pontoon.

Travelers in a boat to cross the Volta Lake.

Travelers in a boat to cross the Volta Lake.

A source in the Yeji area told Citifmonline that accidents on the Volta Lake are largely due to the use of boats since the pontoon has broken down.

By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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