Only two of “more than 20” passengers on a boat that capsized on the Volta Lake on Thursday, 28 May 2020, as it travelled from Jemeni to Agalakope in the Afram Plains North District, have been able to swim ashore alive as of Friday, the Member of Parliament for the area, Betty Krosbi Mensah has told Valentina Ofori-Afriyie on Class91.3FM’s mid-day news 12 Live.

The lawmaker said heavy rains may have caused the boat to break, leading to the feared drowning of the passengers.

“I’m very certain it was not overloaded, it was heavy rain, a storm that, unfortunately, broke the boat into pieces. That is what led to the people actually getting drowned".

She said rescue efforts are ongoing by local fisherfolk.

The accident, she said, occurred between 2:30 pm and 7: 15 pm on Thursday but numerous calls to officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation at Donkorkrom have yielded no response.

“Indeed, as I speak with you now, we do not have the absolute number of people that were on the boat but from the eyewitness, he said that as of the time they were leaving – because it’s a commercial boat that was meeting from Jemeni through Brube to Agalakope – now, the person who reported said that as of the time they were leaving Jemeni, there were more than 20 people and as we speak, only two people have been able to swim across.

“So, those two people have survived. So, as we speak, a number of boat owners, a number of fishermen are on the lake searching for the bodies, and possibly, if there are any survivors”.

The MP extended her sympathies to the families who may have lost relatives in the accident.