Correspondence from Western Region:

A 17-year-old Togolese has met his untimely death as he got drowned in the Akonbra river at Wassa Asikuma in the Wassa Amenfi East Municipality of the Western Region.

This happened on Thursday morning around 8:30 am

The deceased whose name was given as Timotey was part of a group made up of eight Togolese who were crossing the river to the other side to measure farmland they had cleared for a client in order to claim their money.

According to an eyewitness who gave his name as Kwame who was part of the group, they all agreed that since the water level was low, they could walk through the river using a different route.

But for Timotey, that route was too far for him because he could simply swim to the other side without using that long route.

His colleagues tried their possible best to convince him not to swim since they have all agreed to use a different route. But Timotey turned deaf ears to their advice and dived into the river in an attempt to swim in the presence of his colleagues.

The eyewitness said, they could not see Timotey again after he dived into the river some few minutes later, alerting them that he had drowned.

They then made calls for people to come and help rescue Timotey. While they were waiting for people to come, one man who felt he could save Timotey dived into the river.

But for the intervention of professional divers who came to the scene, he could have also died. He was rescued and taken to the hospital where he was treated and discharged.

Chiefs and elders from Wassa Asikuma came and poured libation to make way for divers to go into the river took for Timotey’s body.

At 4 pm on Thursday evening, Timotey’s lifeless body was found. The Wassa Akropong Police command was at the scene to pick their reports after which the body was released to the family for burial on Friday.