By Erica Apeatua Addo
Tarkwa (W/R), March 4, GNA – The Western Central Regional Police Command is investigating a tragic downing incident that claimed four lives at Kwansin Baako near Wassa Dunkwa in the Western Region.
The incident happened on February 28, 2026, and the deceased were Mary Arthur, 43, Agya Atta,11, Kwame Asare,13, and Eric Mensah,11.
The Assistant Superintendent of Police Beatrice Turkson, Head of the Public Affairs Unit of the Western Central Regional Police Command, Tarkwa, in a press statement confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency.
The statement said on February 28, 2026, Kwadwo Ayew reported to the Asankragwa police that earlier that same day at about 13.30 hours, he received information that his brother’s wife, Mary Arthur, and her three children had drowned in an abandoned galamsey pit filled with water.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Mary Arthur and her three children together with a witness, Bright Mensah, her nephew, went to fetch firewood at a nearby cocoa farm at Wassa Dunkwa.
It said after the children had conveyed part of the firewood home, they were further instructed by Madam Arthur to return and collect the remaining firewood.
The statement said when the children returned to the farm, they removed their clothes and jumped into the pit to swim, but shortly after, Mensah realized they were distressed in the water, so he ran home to inform their mother.
The deceased attempted to rescue her children, when she got to the scene but unfortunately, she also drowned.
The bodies have since been conveyed to the Roman Catholic Hospital morgue, in Asankragwa, for preservation and autopsy as police continued their investigations.
The Regional Police Command urged parents and guardians to closely supervise their children and caution them against swimming in abandoned pits, rivers, and other unsafe water bodies, the statement added.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/George-Ramsey Benamba