Daboase Drowning Tragedy: 3rd Body Retrieved

The body of the third student who drowned at Daboase in the Western Region has been retrieved.

It was recovered in the early hours of yesterday.

The three were among seven students of the Daboase Senior High Technical School who went to wash their clothes and swim in the flooded River Subri at the weekend.

The students, all of whom were boarders, reportedly left the dormitory without the knowledge of school authorities and their housemaster.

Their action, however, ended in a heartbreaking incident as three of them, all first-year technical students, drowned.

The three students who died were identified as 19-year-old Lesley Nana Yaw Bimpon, 18-year-old Christian Dennison Acquah and Richard Baidoo, also 19 years old.

While two of the bodies had been retrieved, the third body was recovered from the river yesterday morning after three days of a fruitless search.

This was after the traditional leaders had performed a libation ceremony to help in the retrieval.

Swimming Competition
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Boakye, said the bodies of the three were in the mortuary and that their relatives had been contacted.

He said the students were competing among themselves as to who was the best diver and could perform acrobatics in the river, resulting in the fatality.

“This emerged after interrogations, and the victims said they were from the coastal areas and swam in the ocean and not a small river compared to the sea and were there for bragging rights.”

“The students, according to the school, went to compete two weeks ago and were punished and asked not to go near the river again.

But these seven students sneaked out to go and compete among themselves again,” he said.

Security Challenge
During a visit to the school yesterday, the Daily Graphic observed a sober mood among staff and students as they went about their activities.

One tutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said last Friday, the headmaster at assembly, warned all the students not to go near the river because the downpour had caused it to overflow its banks and was thus dangerous to swim in.

“This was because it had come to the notice of school authorities that some of the boys go to the river to organise swimming competitions among themselves and we have had to punish them for that since it was not sanctioned by the school,” she explained.

“I was with them on Saturday morning after breakfast and told them to go back to their dormitories and study because of the heavy downpour.

But I don’t know what happened, these boys sneaked out,” she said in tears.

She blamed the situation that encouraged students to sneak out of the school on the large school compound that was not walled, as well as the way the school structures were sited, which made it difficult to enforce strict supervision.

“School structures are scattered all over the large school compound which is not walled, therefore, the students easily sneak out on the blind side of teachers, most of whom do not also live on the campus,” she complained.

Source: Graphic