The Oti Regional Minister, Gyapong Kodzo, has disclosed that the victims of the recent Volta Lake boat tragedy were travelling a short distance to attend a family funeral.

Speaking on The Pulse, Mr Kodzo explained that the passengers were moving from one island to another nearby island when the accident occurred, emphasising that it was not a long-distance journey.

“It is not like they are travelling from Dambai or Krachi; it was from an island to an island. This particular one happened when a family that has an extended family on another island was going for a funeral, and then this thing happened,” he revealed.

The minister further explained that ongoing rehabilitation works on the Akosombo stretch have caused water from the Volta River to spread into several settlement areas, creating new islands across parts of the Oti Region.

“I want everybody to understand that the intervention of the Akosombo Dam that brought a blockage of the Volta River had extended a lot of water to other parts of the land, so for the Volta Lake now, we have a lot of islands, and that is where these things normally happen,” he noted.

Mr Kodzo expressed concern over the rising safety risks posed by the expanding waterways and urged stronger enforcement of maritime safety regulations to prevent future tragedies.

“So the problem is about how to educate these young ones and their family members who are on the islands to go by the rules of the maritime laws,” he stressed.