Residents of Galilea, a community located along the Weija Lake in the Ga South Municipality were plunged into a state of shock over the weekend when three school children drowned under dramatic circumstances.

The deceased;14-year-old Kwabena  Effah, a JHS 1 student of Ngleshie Amanfrom Basic  schools, 13-year-old Junior Ganyo, a class six pupil of Galilea Cluster of schools and  18-year old Samuel, a JHS two student of Cluster of Roses International School met their sad fate on Saturday, 11 April. 

The deceased and their friends were said to have gone to the bank of the lake to swim when the tragic incident occurred.

Madam Esther Amin speaks to myjoyonline about her terrible loss

Kwabena Effa  and Junior Ganyo were neighbors while Samuel, a native of Nigeria living with his parents, stayed a distance away from the former.

According to Kwabena Effah’s mother Madam Esther Enin, she last saw her son on Saturday morning, when she ate breakfast with him. After breakfast, she said, she saw him playing football with other boys in the area after which his best friend Akoto invited him to go play in a different location. 

The inconsolable mother told myjoyonline that about two hours after the two boys departed, some children rushed to inform her that Kwabena had drowned in the lake. Hoping it was not too late, she quickly organised some fishermen to conduct a search for the children. 

Junior Ganyo's mother is catatonic and hasn't spoken a word since hearing about her son's death

 

Madam Agness Havor, grandmother of Junior Ganyo said his mother has been traumatized by her son’s untimely death and has not been able to speak since news reached her.

The old woman said on that fateful day Junior unusually left home without informing anyone and joined his friends at the banks of the lake.

She described Junior as a very obedient boy and could not understand why this could happen to her grandson since he usually did not like going out with friends. 

Unfortunately for both families, the search party only discovered sandals suspected to belong to the children in a floating canoe on the lake. 

Eyewitnesses informed them that the deceased children, in the company of four others had commandeered a canoe owned by one of the fishermen in the community and rowed off into the water. 

However, they said, a strong wind, seemingly from nowhere swept the canoe further into the lake which made the boys panic and jump into the water in a bid to swim to the shore.

Some of the boys managed to make it ashore. 

However, Samuel, who apparently was the oldest in the group managed to save his two younger brothers and heroically returned to save a third boy and unfortunately drowned in the process.

When news of the incident reached the chief of the town, he detailed a search party to look for the boys. Their search was in vain, as the bodies of the three boys were washed ashore Sunday.

A formal report has been made to the Amanfrom Police who have retrieved the bodies and deposited them at the Korle Bu Mortuary. 

 

The Weija lake serves as a source of livelihood for the community, and drinking water for major parts of Accra

When myjoyonline visited Samuel's home, his quarters were locked up but the landlady, Madam Elizabeth Donkor disclosed that his father was disturbed by the death of his son. According to her, the fact that Samuel managed to save his two brothers did not give the man any relief. 

She questioned whether the man would ever be able to come to terms with the unfortunate loss.  

According to her, when Samuel's body was discovered, his father begged the police not to send his body to the mortuary. He was not convinced that the boy was dead.

The police were unable to convince the poor man that indeed his son was gone, and insisted on sending his body to the mortuary. 

Madam Donkor explained the man's absence saying that he had followed the police to the mortuary, insisting all the while that he had faith his son would wake up. 

Residents of the town told myjoyonline that the incident has hit them hard. The tight-knit community is reeling from the tragedy and wondering how such could occur.