By Hou Akot Hou
Officials in Gogrial East County in Warrap State have reported that at least one person has died from drowning after a canoe leaked and overturned on Monday, while 7 people on board fell into the water, leaving one person dead.
Thiik Agoth Giir, the deputy director for the criminal investigation department in Gogrial East County, said the incident left one dead and 6 others were rescued.
Agoth blamed the poor handling of the boat, as the downpour has made the river overflow, jeopardising the conditions of the local people living along the rivers susceptible to such conditions.
He said the body of the girl took a long time to be retrieved.
“The boat overturned, and all those onboard weren’t experts at swimming at all, so that made one girl die, and the body disappeared for a day and a half until it was retrieved in another part of the river after it floated or it got exposed,” he said.
“They were moving from Liet-Nhom, and on the way, while they crossed, the canoe overturned, leaving a girl dead, and the owner of the boat fled into an unknown place on realising the girl was dead,” Thiik expounded.
In a similar scenario, officials in Aweil South County in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State have reported that at least two people have drowned in two separate places in Aweil South, and another person was rescued early this week.
According to the director of information in the Aweil South County commissioner’s office, the incidents happened simultaneously, as one occurred on Monday and another incident unfolded on Tuesday within Aweil South County.
Simon Lual Buuk, the director for information, said the first incident occurred on Monday when the 70-year-old man identified as Akok Kiir was reported to have attempted to cross River Kueng and drowned while attempting to cross it.
“A 70-year-old man identified as Akok Kiir was travelling to Gak-Rol payam from Malek-Alel when he drowned on Monday, and the matter didn’t stop there,” Buk said.
Buk said the incident was also followed by another similar incident in which a 12-year-old girl passed away in a river while she was crossing with her siblings at Malek-Alek.
“In that order, another incident occurred on Tuesday at Malek-Alek, which is the headquarters of the county, where a 12-year-old girl attempted to cross River Kueng together with her siblings, including children of her own auntie, but due to her inability to swim, she drowned,” he stated.
Lual also revealed that another similar incident involved a young girl who almost drowned in the same manner and was rushed to the hospital but remained unconscious, as she was not responding to the treatment.
“The other girl who is now being taken care of is called Abuk. She was saved, but whenever people rushed her to the health facility, she became unconscious, and when they brought her back to the shore of the river, she came back to life, so people are having superstitious beliefs about her that some magic might be connected to her drowning as she went deep into the water,” he noted.
These latest incidents highlight the need for carefulness or caution when people are crossing rivers, as rivers are getting submerged in this wet season as heavy downpours begin.