A seven-member crew of Ghanaian fishermen who set out on a five-day fishing expedition ended up stranded at sea for almost 12 days after their canoe’s engine broke down.

The fishermen, who left Sekondi on October 9, 2026, aboard a canoe named Second Chance, got swept away by strong winds and sea currents after their outboard motor failed on the third day of their trip.

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They were eventually carried through Togolese waters into Benin, where they were rescued and provided with food and water before returning home safely.

But while stranded at sea, the crew faced desperate situations they had to surmount before they were eventually rescued.

This article chronicles the event that followed after their outboard motor failed at sea.

What happened at sea?

The fishermen had planned to spend five days at sea on a fishing trip from Sekondi to Axim. However, their plans changed when their canoe’s engine developed a fault on the third day.

One of the crew members, 29-year-old Kwamena Nkum, said they tried to repair the engine but were unsuccessful, leaving them unable to control the canoe as strong winds and sea currents swept them away from Ghana’s waters.

“We usually spend five days at sea, but this time, our motor became faulty on the third day. It just went off. We tried to fix it, but it didn’t work. Our food and water got finished. We were drinking sea water. We boiled the water to reduce the salt concentration,” he recounted.

How they survived without food and water

As the days passed, the crew ran out of their food and drinking water. They resorted to catching fish to survive, as some of the fish they had initially harvested went bad and had to be discarded.

Nkum said they used their fishing hooks and lines to catch fresh fish after their original supplies became unusable. When their charcoal ran out, they also resorted to burning wood from their canoe to prepare their meals.

“We were also eating the fish we had harvested, but at a point, they went bad, and so we had to dispose of them. We used some of them with our hook and line to catch fresh fish to eat,” he said.

How they were rescued

The fishermen’s situation began to improve when they spotted a scenery from afar that resembled a land one night. According to Nkum, one of the crew members who was still awake alerted the others, prompting them to switch on their mobile phones and try to contact people on shore.

They initially believed they had drifted into Togo but later discovered that they were in Benin.

Nkum said they managed to receive a call from a friend back home, identified as Kingsley, who helped them establish contact with their fishing leaders.

“We switched on our phones and received a call later from home from a friend called Kingsley. We then got in contact with our fishing leaders as we tried to tell them our location. We thought we were in Togo, but we were rather in Benin. We had no food left. We were very hungry,” he said.

Kingsley and the fishing leaders subsequently contacted the chief fisherman in Benin, who went to their aid and provided them with food and water.

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Local fishermen, together with the Beninese and Togolese authorities, later assisted in the rescue effort.

The seven fishermen were eventually brought to safety and returned home, ending nearly 12 days of uncertainty for their families and community.

MAG/VPO

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