BOY, 10, DROWNS RESCUING A SHEEP (1B, OCT 28, 2010)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko & Della Russel Ocloo, Tema

A 10-year-old boy, Anas Malik, got drowned in a reservoir belonging to the Ghana Water Company Limited near the Tema Secondary School (TEMASCO) when he attempted to rescue a sheep that had been trapped in it.
The incident, according to eyewitnesses, occurred about 5:30 p.m. last Tuesday when the boy jumped into the reservoir filled with water after the stray animal had fallen into it.
Anas Malik, a Class Four pupil of the Anglican School at Tema Community One, was said to be playing on the nearby children’s park when the incident occurred.
His body, together with the dead animal, was retrieved from the reservoir by officials of the Ghana National Fire Service about 7 a.m. yesterday.
The Crime Officer of the Community One Police Station, DSP Reynolds Manteaw, who confirmed the incident, said the body had been released to the family for burial, in accordance with Islamic tradition, after an autopsy had been conducted on it at the Tema General Hospital.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Mr Bawa Ustarz, the boy’s guardian, said his nephew had gone to the Tema Children’s Park to play after returning from school.
According to him, the family became alarmed when, around 10 p.m., he had still not returned home, prompting them to file a complaint at the police station after a search party had fruitlessly combed the entire community looking for him.
Mr Bawa said the search team continued to search around the children’s park and its surrounding communities for Anas on Wednesday morning, during which they were informed of a body lying in the reservoir.
He said a close examination by family members among the search team revealed the body to be that of the deceased.
The Assembly Member for the Padmore Electoral Area, Mr Asumah Mohammed Danladi, indicated that the latest drowning was the third in two years, with two children aged 9 and 11 also having got drowned in the same reservoir.
“Several vehicles have also fallen into the trench which has been left uncovered over the last 35 years, resulting in fatal accidents,” he lamented.
Mr Danladi appealed to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and the Department of Urban Roads to, as a matter of urgency, cover the trench along the stretch to avert future disasters.