An 11-year-old pupil of the King of Kings Basic School, Nafisatu Mumuni, has been carried away by floods on Tuesday afternoon at Anlotown-Alafia in the New Juaben South Municipality of the Eastern Region.
A search by family and the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) officials is ongoing.
www.3news.com’s Yvonne Neequaye, who has been to the scene, gathered that the 11-year-old pupil, in the company of a sibling and other mates, had closed from school when the incident occurred.
The rains had heavily fallen and parts of the Nsukwao River at Anlotown-alafia had overflowed its banks.
The victim and her other mates were said to be playing along the bank of the river when she unfortunately slipped into it together with her sibling.
Her sibling was, however, rescued.
A search party consisting of NADMO officials and family members has been at the scene since Tuesday.
The body has still not been found as of Wednesday morning and the search party is still working downstream the Nsukwao Basin Drainage Project with the hope to find her.
It’s been a hard time for the parents and family members of Nafisatu Mumuni.
Her Auntie, Fatimatu Ismaila, explained they were hoping she was with one of their relatives when the incident occurred, only to receive information that the victim was swept away.
“We are sad and in distress, school had closed when it was still raining. Nafisa had not come home, so we thought she was with one of her auntes,” with a red eye, she narrated.
“Her father got home and she was still not in. He went to the aunte’s house and upon entering, did not find their shoes at the entrance of the door as usual. This prompted him to rush to the school.
“On his way, he had a call that he was needed by the Nsukwao Drainage because her daughter has been carried away. We are sad, we want her body to be found.”
Regional NADMO Operations Director Alfred Owiredu Agyeman and his zonal officers are on the search, hoping to find the victims body.
“When we received the call [on Tuesday], we came in to help rescue the little one, then we were told the 10 to 11-year-old has been carried away by the flood as well. The search party hasn’t ended his work yet.”
He added that part of their work was to prevent incident like that from happening. So, intensive education would be embarked upon, he said.
Asked if he thinks the almost $16 million Nsukwao Project has not mitigated flooding in the area, he said they had some reservations, but would not go into much details.
”I think that the project could have done much better than we are experiencing. The storm drains are unable to hold the heavy volume of rainfall occurring in recent times.”
Source: 3news.com|Ghana