Barekuma collapsed bridge: 19 year old farmer drowns
Barekuma, a cocoa farming community in the Atwima Nwabiagya North district of the Ashanti region was thrown into a state of mourning when the body of a 19 year old farmer, Yaw Boateng, was retrieved from River Offin on Thursday, May 16, 2018.
The deceased got drowned on late afternoon Wednesday, May 17, 2018, when in an attempt to wash his muddy body while crossing the river when returning from his farm on that fateful day.
The dead body was retrieved by the combined search party of the residents, the police and hired divers from other communities in the early hours of Thursday.
An eye witness Adwoa Nyarko, told Otec News’ reporter, Jacob Agyenim Boateng that, “when Yaw Boateng was returning from his farm yesterday, he stopped in the middle of the river to wash his muddy body. I saw him been taken away by the river so I shouted for help, some by-passers went to his rescue but the strong current of river made it difficult to be rescued.”
“The younger brother of the deceased who was accompanying him rushed home and informed the village folks, they quickly came, dived into the river to search for him but their efforts were not enough to save him,” the eye witness added.
The Assembly member for the area Hon. Appiah Kubi Saalia in an interview confirmed the incident to Otec News and reiterated his appeal to the Assembly to reconstruct their collapsed, which to him, was the cause of Yaw Boateng’s death.
“I have made several appeals to the district assenmbly and the MP, Hon. Owusu Bio to come to our aid for the construction of the collapsed bridge over the Offin River that links us to our farms and other communities, but to no avail. If there was a bridge over the river, he should not have died,” he sorrowfully said.
Source: otecfmghana.com/Francis Appiah
