Castro and Janet Bandu
Exactly seven years ago -6th July 2014 - Ghanaian hiplife star, Mr Theophilus Tagoe, (alias Castro De Destroyer) and his girlfriend Janet Bandu, disappeared at the Ada Volta Estuary whilst jet-skiing.
Though the search by the police yielded no positive results, some spiritualists and prophets gave assurances that Castro and his girlfriend are alive and that they would be able to locate and bring them back after performing specified sacrifices or rituals; but the spiritual approach has also failed to yield results.
Nonetheless, in line with statutory principles, the police will officially declare Castro and his girlfriend dead by the end of July 2021, as this marks the end of the seventh year after the disappearance of the two friends.
Right now, the question begging for undisputed resolution is whether the fans, friends and family members of Castro and his girlfriend, should accept the verdict of the police, as they close the docket and declare Castro and his pal dead, or they should maintain their faith in the claims of the prophets who are perceived as the spokespersons of God, so can work miracles.
However, a scientific analysis of the factors that prevail in the area where the disappearance occurred can be used to clear all doubts and bring finality to the issue.
The Ada area can be divided into two zones, namely, a long and wide freshwater stretch comprising the Volta River channel with its beautiful islands, and then the ocean itself which has a sandy-beach coastline being ravaged by coastal erosion.
The freshwater area is very calm and the flow of the Volta is hardly noticeable because the Akosombo and Kpong dams built across the Volta River have drastically reduced the strength of the current.
The portion of the Atlantic ocean where the Volta River discharges her waters is called the Gulf of Guinea; and being an estuarine shoreline, the junction is characterised by great turbulence because whilst the river is pushing freshwater out to sea, tidal currents transport seawater up the river channel; and as noticed by Oceanographers all over the world, since seawater is denser than freshwater, whenever two such water bodies meet at estuarine areas, the freshwater forms a distinct column above the seawater and a sharp boundary are created between the two water masses, with freshwater floating and flowing on top and a wedge of salt water at the bottom.
Aside from the fact that the mouth of the Volta River has its specific local turbulent conditions, the Gulf of Guinea also has its oceanic current called the Guinea Current, which flows eastwards towards Nigeria with local maxima speeds of 2 - 3 knots (that is, 1.0 - 1.5 m/s) as reported by Roest (2018), who referenced studies conducted by Wiafe et al., (2013), and Houghton, (1976).
Roest further states that, at depths around 40 - 60 metres, there is a counter-current, which flows in westerly directions and combines with tidal forces to generate swell waves that on average are 1.0 metre high, but have annual maxima around 2.5 - 3.0 metres, with the highest waves occurring from July to August, while the lowest waves occur around January and February.
It is important to note that Castro and Janet were out at the ocean frontline in July, the season of maximum wave generation.
Now, with the oceanographic conditions described above in mind, let us reconstruct what happened on that fateful day. The two happy friends mounted the jet-skiing machine with Castro in control and wearing a life-jacket and Janet sitting behind holding him tightly around his middle and they take off from the calm, freshwater section and then cruise at jet-skiing speed, (which, according to Jackson, (2017), could have been an average velocity of 105 km/h -i.e., 65 mph), towards the sea.
Then at the estuarine junction, because it is the season of big strong waves, they would encounter 2.5 – 3.0-metre-high waves that would lift or flip the jet-ski temporarily into the sky at least 3 metres above the water surface and gravity would bring them back the next moment hitting the surface of the ocean with a heavy smack, and then they would be tossed up again by another wave.
A couple of such smacks in rapid succession would throw the lady up as she is not the one gripping the handles of the jet-ski and she will yank Castro off and both will plunge into the turbulent Volta River – Gulf of Guinea choppy zone with Janet clutching Castro tightly, and he would be incapable of extricating himself from the frantic double-arm grip of the drowning lady.
As their combined weight would be greater than the floating capacity of the single life-jacket, they would be dragged down into the underwater salt-wedge, counter Guinea current and be swept out to sea at the speed of not less than 1 m/s.
Thus, after every minute, they would be carried 60 metres away by the underwater current in unknown directions; so, by the time the jet-ski, was found without its passengers, and the police informed to begin their search and rescue mission, would Castro and his friend clutching one another not be dead and more than one kilometre deep inside the Atlantic Ocean and several kilometres farther away from the shores?
Some people think the corpses would have been found floating and being blown towards the shore somewhere, especially after the third day when the decomposing bodies would be bloated. But it is not in all cases that drowned people have washed ashore. In instances where drowning people are caught in strong underwater eddies, they are dragged deeper towards the bottom and thus do not float.
Taking into consideration the peculiar oceanographic conditions that prevail at the Ada Volta Estuary and the fact that Castro and Janet skied to the estuarine boundary, one can conclude without equivocation that the hiplife star and his companion are dead and their remains lie at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Thus, though very painful and extremely sorrowful, family members, friends and fans of Mr Theophilus Tagoe and his companion should accept the ultimate declaration of the police and make funeral arrangements for their disappeared son and daughter. Condolences to the families.
The holiday resort operators in the Ada area should also ensure that each client mounting the jet- ski wears a lifejacket, warn them to avoid the estuarine frontline where the Volta and the Atlantic Ocean meet, and not to drink until they have finished jet-skiing, or not to ski at all when tipsy.
In addition, the Ada Local Government Authorities and marine-safety officials should use part of the taxes collected from the resort operators to procure and mount floating markers at the danger zone to warn people, in order to avoid a repeat of this preventable accident, some people erroneously attributed to “Maami-wata.”