A yet-to-be-identified young woman is feared dead after floodwaters swept her away in Nima in Accra following Saturday morning’s heavy rains.

It remains unclear how she ended up in the drain. Eyewitnesses say several young men made frantic attempts to rescue her, but the strong current overpowered them.

One of the rescuers, Gerhard Kwamina Asomontsi, a student at the University of Media, Arts and Communication (UniMAC), formerly the Ghana Institute of Journalism, was on his way to write his exams when the incident occurred.

He described the experience as traumatic in an interview with Myjoyonline.

“Today, I was on my way to write my exam, and I got to Tesano when the rain started. So I decided to go through Kokomlemle and then head through Nima. So as we were descending, there's a road that leads to the Nima Goil fuel station. So in the valley there, I saw this lady in the gutter, and I was even telling my colleague that the lady was swimming. So within a twinkle of a second, I heard people shouting. So I parked my car, rushed in, held her hand, trying to pull her out and then other people joined me.

“But unfortunately, we couldn't pull her out, and almost about four, five, six guys came to help. We couldn't pull her out, and then the flood took her away.”

Asked why they were unable to rescue her despite their numbers, the distraught student explained:

“Apparently, I saw her from her shoulder upward. So I couldn't see what was actually holding her down in the water. If she had released her other hand, if we had held two hands, we could have saved her. But unfortunately, it looks like she collapsed in the process, so she was no longer fighting. So it was like the currents, the pressure of the water was just pulling her away. So I think that is what happened. She's a lady. She has braided her hair, and she's fair coloured.”

He said at one point, the rescuers had to prioritise their own safety to avoid being dragged away as well.

“And if we had forced, maybe it means one of us would have also joined her. And that is why it got to a time where I noticed that she slipped off, and then she was gone.”

A video of the failed rescue mission captured and shared by a content creator on social media

Gerhard said he remains traumatised by the incident, describing it as the first time he had witnessed such a tragedy.

“In fact, for the first time, even as I was writing the exam, the whole thing was flashing back. I don't know how much I'll get in the exams unless God helps me. It was a shock.”

Although the victim’s body had not been recovered as of the time he left the scene, he believes it would take a miracle for her to be found alive.

“As of the time we were leaving, we didn't see the body. She moved from the minor gutter into a bigger trench. For those who know much about the Nima, there's a gutter, very wide. So the flood carried her into that gutter. Therefore, it is presumed that we could maybe see the body. But I doubt if we could see her alive.”

Nima has long struggled with heavily polluted gutters, a situation residents say contributes significantly to flooding in the area, even after minimal rainfall.