Accra: The MISORNU Safety Centre, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which teaches personal safety tips, has expressed condolences to the families of victims of the tragic boat disaster on the Oti River near Kete Krachi on Saturday. The accident claimed 15 lives, including 11 children. The NGO has also extended condolences to the Kete Krachi Community, describing the tragedy as a wake-up call to strengthen enforcement and public education on water transport safety.
According to Ghana News Agency, the Centre, in a statement signed by DCOP (Rtd) David Senanu Eklu, the Executive Director of the Centre, called for a national safety-first mindset to prevent such avoidable losses. It said preliminary reports pointed to overloading, lack of life jackets, and absence of adult supervision, factors that had repeatedly contributed to fatalities on Ghana's waterways. "This heartbreaking incident serves as yet another painful reminder of the urgent need for Ghana to develop and practice a proactive, safety-first mindset at all levels of national life," the statement said.
The Centre noted that similar incidents, including the 2016 Yeji-Adidome boat that capsized, the 2020 Volta Lake tragedy near Dzemeni, and the 2023 Afram Plains accident, all stemmed from recurring safety lapses such as overloading, poor supervision, and weak enforcement. MISORNU, therefore, urged the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), the Ministry of Transport, and other relevant agencies to prioritise prevention by conducting transparent investigations, enforcing regulations, and mandating the use of life jackets on all river transport.
It also called for collaboration with local assemblies and community leaders to establish early-warning and rapid-response systems for river transport. "The MISORNU Safety Center reiterates that safety is everyone's responsibility, from passengers and boat operators to regulators and local leaders," the statement said. "A proactive safety-first mindset means refusing to board overloaded boats, insisting on life jackets, reporting unsafe practices, and valuing human life above convenience or profit."
As part of its ongoing National Safety Awareness Programme, the MISORNU Safety Centre said it would continue to educate students, communities, and transport operators on risk awareness, personal safety, and emergency preparedness. It added that the upcoming Senior High School Security Awareness Campaign would include a special module on boat and water transport safety to equip young people with life-saving knowledge. "While we mourn the lives lost on the Oti River, we must also honour them by ensuring that such tragedies never recur. Ghana must make prevention - not reaction - the new culture of safety. Safety is not accidental; it is a choice we must all make every day."
The tragic boat accident is reported to have occurred at approximately 0130 hours on Saturday when a small passenger boat, reportedly returning from a funeral at Okuma to Bovime - both communities in the Krachi West District of the Oti Region - capsized on the Oti River. Preliminary reports suggest that the vessel was grossly overloaded beyond its safe operational capacity. In all, 15 people lost their lives, including 11 children (five boys and six girls), aged between two and 14 years. The remaining four adult victims comprised three women and a man, aged between 18 and 64 years.
Four other adults on board survived the accident. The bodies of 12 of the victims have been deposited at the Kete Krachi and Worawora Government Hospital mortuaries, while the remaining three children have since been buried. Meanwhile, the Ghana Maritime Authority has deployed a specialised investigative team comprising maritime safety inspectors and personnel from the Navy Task Force in Dambai to the scene. The team is mandated to determine the precise cause of the accident, identify violations of safety regulations, and ensure that all responsible parties are held accountable under the law.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, the GMA will immediately establish a high-level Casualty Investigations Committee to undertake a comprehensive inquiry. The committee's findings will inform urgent enforcement measures aimed at preventing similar tragedies on Ghana's inland waterways. The Authority is also launching an extensive and sustained lakeside safety enforcement operation to ensure that all vessels, particularly those operating at night, strictly adhere to passenger limits, mandatory life jacket use, and operational permit requirements. Boats found to be in flagrant breach of safety regulations will be seized, and their operators prosecuted.
