Man Drowned After Heavy Downpour

Residents of Dansoman in Accra were shocked when they woke up after the heavy downpour last Wednesday to find that a man had drowned.

The man apparently drowned in his attempt to desilt a gutter to give floodwaters access to the main gutter.

A source said the victim, Ayigandu Amoak, 51, (a.k.a) Gbe Loo was given a contract to desilt the choked gutter by a woman in the vicinity after the heavy rain.

The eyewitness said both Amoak and his younger brother who had gone there to carry out the job were drunk. Amoak entered the culvert first while his brother waited outside to assist if the need arose.

When he had not shown up after several minutes a curious passerby asked what the brother was waiting for, and was told that Amoak had entered the culvert and had been in it for more than thirty minutes.

The passerby looked to find what was preventing Amoak from coming out of the culvert and found him already dead in the water.

The incident, which occurred in the early hours of the day, attracted a crowd to the scene to have a glimpse of the poor man at his tragic end.

Later a report was lodged with the Dansoman Police who arranged for an ambulance to convey the body to the Korle-Bu Hospital for post-mortem.

The victim's wife when contacted by The Accra Daily Mail, said the woman who gave her husband the job woke him up very early in the morning and told him to come immediately to avert a situation in her area. She was informed after a couple of hours that her husband was dead.

Sand winning in this area has persisted for several years without any serious attention being given to it. This has washed off the topsoil posing a threat to the people in the area because it floods whenever it rains.

The flooding can also be attributed to overcrowding of buildings impeding drainage of the area. The downpour last week is a warning of the danger ahead if attention is not given the area.