Two teenagers have drowned in the Volta River in the Eastern Region.
The victims, Stephen Amponsah, 16, and Richard Nii Noi, 17, joined their families to attend a funeral over the weekend at Adome near Senchi in Asuogyaman District.
However, they decided to swim in the Volta River but got drowned.
Their bodies were retrieved and deposited at the VRA Hospital mortuary by the Police and officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation.
Drowning incidents are common in the Volta River and other parts of the Eastern Region particularly in the mining communities owing to abandoned pits filled with water.
In May this year, for example, an unidentified dead body was retrieved from the Adomi bridge stretch of the Volta River. Also in July, a 23-year-old woman identified as Atsupe Hamah drowned in the same river.
Similarly, on November 5, 2021, two friends drowned in the Osubin waterfalls at Begoro in the Fanteakwa North District.
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The two were identified as Kwaku Owusu, about 26 years and Kofi Kyei Mensah, 28.
On November 8, 2021, an unidentified man also drowned in a river at Akyem Abekwase in the Atewa West District.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), drowning is a major public health problem worldwide.
WHO estimates that 236, 000 people died from drowning in 2019 making it the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death, accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths.
The injuries accounted for almost 8% of total global mortality.