The White Volta River at Naaga, a village in the Kassena Nankana Municipality in the Upper East Region, has claimed the lives of two teenage siblings and their companion.
On Saturday, April 15, 2023, at around 3 o'clock, the sad tragedy took place.
Eight kids between the ages of 11 and 17 went to wash mangoes and go swimming in the river, including the two boys and one girl who died.
They apparently went to a large mango tree near the river in the neighborhood to gather mango fruits because they were not permitted to steal mangoes that belonged to nearby neighbors.
They decided to enter the water to wash the mangoes after they had successfully removed them from the trees.
They all dove into the river to swim during the operation.
They unfortunately drifted into the river's deepest section.
Three of them were carried away by the river, but five of them were able to swim back to the bank.
The five teens alerted the community right away, and the elders and youth promptly mobilized and carried out the necessary rites to allow rescuers to enter the river and save them.
Around 7 o'clock on the same day, the rescuers found one body after four hours of searching.
The team tried again the next day but was unsuccessful after a full day of searching.
Another ritual had been carried out as instructed by the traditional priest, who expressed the hope that the bodies of the two other youths would be recovered, according to assemblyman for the Chaaba Electoral Area David Anafo.
Sampson Tangombu Chiragia, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Navrongo Central, encouraged the search team to go above and beyond in order to locate the missing bodies so that they may be given a respectable burial while he was on a visit to the riverfront on Sunday.
The adolescent whose body was found in the river first has now been buried.