A man believed to be in his early 20s, Christian Hiagbe, drowned on Sunday while fetching water from the dam to wash his clothes at Adaklu-Ahunda-Kpodzi in the Adaklu District of the Volta Region.
The assembly member of the area, Alexander Seshie, who confirmed the incident to the Ghanaian Times yesterday, said that the deceased was known to be epileptic.
According to him, Hiagbe suffered a seizure at the site and fell into the dam.
He said that efforts by some residents to rescue the deceased proved futile as he struggled with them in the water.
Mr Seshie said that the deceased ignored warnings from his family not to go to the dam site late in the afternoon that day, but he insisted on washing his clothes by the dam and fetching water for his mother although water was running from the taps in the community.
When contacted, a police source in Ho confirmed the story, and said that the body of the deceased had been taken to the Ho Teaching Hospital for preservation and autopsy.
A similar incident occurred in the community five months ago, when a mentally ill person drowned in the dam, which served as the community’s source of drinking water.
The second incident has led to the raising of health concerns among residents as chop bar operators in the community continued to use water from the dam for cooking, the Ghanaian Times has learnt.
To avoid paying a meager amount for potable water, some residents of Ahunda prefer to fetch water from the dam.
FROM ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI, ADAKLU-AHUNDA
