Twenty teenagers on Sunday, March 7, were believed to have drowned at the Apam beach after bodies of the deceased were retrieved from the beaches.
Chilling account was given by the Apam District Police Commander on how the victims found themselves in such an unfortunate circumstance.
According to Moses Osakonor, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the incident happened at about 5pm when the teenagers decided to go and have fun swimming at the Apam beach, even when such activities have been prohibited to control the spread of Covid-19.
In the course of the swimming, a heavy tide rose and they couldn’t control themselves anymore so they were carried away by it. Two lives were saved by the fast intervention of an experienced swimmer who were later sent to the St. Luke Hospital.
Throughout the night, there was an attempt by a search party to retrieve bodies either dead or alive but was unsuccessful during the operation. Four bodies were retrieved on Monday morning as the team got lucky and about three bodies more were retrieved three hours later. The team as of Tuesday morning have retrieved the total number of 12 with 10 males and 2 females.
The Apam township in the Central Region has been thrown in a state of shock and despair as families of the deceased express their grievances. Some of the families still await the result of their missing teenagers to know if they are dead or alive.
The victims of the unfortunate incident have families from Apam, Cape Coast and other parts of the Central Region. The Police is yet to identify which of the teenagers are from Apam, Cape Coast and other parts of the Central Region.
