Three children drown in abandoned pit in Ghana

Three boys, aged between six and nine, have drowned in a pit at Tuba in the Ga South Municipality in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

The three are Isaac Amoah, 8, and siblings: Elisha Kakra Adu-Noah, 9, and Samuel Tawiah Adjei-Mensah, 6.

A report cited by state-owned news outlet graphic online shows that the children had left home to play around the area of the incident last Saturday morning and decided to wash down in a pit created by rainwater.

The top soil at the area had been removed due to illegal sand and gravel winning activities.

Unknown to the children, a mudslide had created the pit, making the base muddy, a development that made it difficult for them to swim out of the stagnant water in the pit.

Their bodies have been deposited at the morgue for autopsy and investigations by the police.

The Ga South Municipal Assembly stopped the illegal sand winning activities about two years ago, but the vast parcel of disturbed land lies precariously with many death traps, especially during the rainy season.

It is not clear how many of such incidents have happened in Ghana over the past years. However, it can be recalled that in February this year, a similar incident happened which caused the death of a five-year-old Moroccan boy who was trapped in a well for four days.