RESIDENTS OF Kumasi on Saturday afternoon received the gruesome news of three teenagers drowning in a well near Sofoline when they attempted to retrieve their football from the deep water.
The names of the deceased persons were given as Osei Kwabena, 15, a JHS student at Prempeh College, Owura Kwame, 14 and Chrysler, whose surname and age was not readily known.
The horrific incident occurred around 3pm near the location where the Sofoline Interchange is being constructed. The three boys were playing football with their pals in the area when the ball fell into the well and in their desperate attempt to retrieve it, they lost their lives.
The Ghana National Fire Service crew was called to the scene but all attempts to rescue the three boys proved futile as the water kept rising whilst drawing it with pumping machines.
Four good Samaritans, who are skilled swimmers, jumped into well and within 15 minutes they were able to rescue two of the boys. There were signs that the boys were alive so they were quickly rushed to the SDA hospital at Kwadaso but they were declared dead on arrival.
Ten minute after the two boys had been rescued, the divers went back into the well and found the third boy who also looked like he was still alive. He was also rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital but he was also pronounced dead on arrival.
Richard Karikari of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) said around 3pm, he received a call that three boys that were playing football around Sofoline had drowned in a well nearby.
He said he rushed to the scene and was told that the boys� football fell into the well, which he alleged was dug by a construction company in the area to draw water for their works.
Since there were no danger signs or barricades around the deep well, the innocent boys, he suspected, thought the well was not deep so two of them decided to jump into it and pick the ball.
Karikari noted that immediately the two boys jumped into the water they drowned so the third boy, who wanted to save his friends, took his clothes off and jumped into the water but he drowned as well.
He said the remaining boys, sensing danger, quickly raised the alarm which attracted a sizeable number of people to the scene.
According to him, when attempts by the fire service personnel to draw the water failed to work, four good Samaritans jumped into the water to help retrieve the bodies of the three boys but they were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
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