A boat capsized while traveling from Dorkorchina to Kpandai in a terrible occurrence that happened on the Black Volta in the Savannah Region, leaving one person dead and about five others missing.
Two people, according to Mr. Sulemana, were able to escape the situation, while about five more remain missing.
“They were traders who were coming from the northern part of the Bono side across to their villages and they are always around the riverside up to the Cote d’Ivoire boundary. These people were coming from the northern side and when they got to a point, their canoe capsized. They were about five people and we recorded one death that is a lady and the ladies were two with three men and the one who was driving the engine boat is yet to be recovered to know whether he is alive or not,” he said.
According to NADMO’s inquiry, the boat was carrying too many people and items, which probably caused the accident. The boat capsized after running into some floating tree stumps in the river.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to get to the spot where the incident occurred. NADMO is therefore depending on the local populace to help with the search and rescue effort for individuals who are missing.
Facts about the Black Volta River
Known also as Mouhoun in Burkina Faso (previously Upper Volta), Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), the Black Volta River is the headstream of the Volta River in western Africa. It begins as the Baoulé in low hills in southwest Burkina Faso close to Bobo Dioulasso and flows into Lake Volta (in Ghana) at the end of its course.
Lake Volta is a sizable artificial reservoir built by the Volta River Project that stretches just above the former confluence of the Black Volta and White Volta rivers.
The Black Volta originates in Burkina Faso and travels around 200 miles (320 km) north and east before turning to travel 340 miles (550 km) south, marking the border between Ghana and Burkina Faso and then between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
After a path of roughly 720 miles (1,160 km), it twists again in Bamboi, Ghana, first turning north and then east before emptying into Lake Volta 80 miles (130 km) further east. It has a mild gradient (about 2 feet per mile [40 cm per km]), and its river valley receives comparatively little rainfall (for that region of the world).
The Black Volta may cease to flow during the driest months, but its regime has allowed for the construction of a dam between Bamboi and the Côte d’Ivoire border. Ghana’s Lawra is the main riparian town. At Bamboi, a ferry is available.
