An 18-year-old girl, Anne Marie Numgbu on Tuesday got drowned when she slipped from a jetty into the Abbey lagoon at Tiapum in La Cote d’Ivoire.

Madam Haiga Kadwo, step-mother of the girl told the Ghana News Agency at Half Assini that the deceased was a Junior High School student who had passed the 2011 Basic Education Certificate Examination and had gained admission to Half Assini Senior High School.

She said in the girl’s attempt to assist her parents to prepare for her to enter senior high school in the 2012-2013 academic year, led her to start petty trading.

Madam Kadwo said whilst Anne was trading on Tuesday night, she ferried a boat to Tiapum Wednesday Market in Cote d’Ivoire to sell her wears.

Madam Kadwo said an eyewitness account indicated that after the boat berthed, the deceased sent some of her goods to the market leaving the rest on the jetty but on her way to collect them, she fell into the lagoon and got drown.

The girl’s body was found the next day by divers and has since been deposited at the Half Assini Government Hospital mortuary pending autopsy and burial.**