Kintampo disaster an act of God – Report

The disaster which occurred at the Kintampo Waterfalls claiming several lives in March this year has been described as an “Act of God”, a report presented to Parliament has revealed.

Twenty people mostly students lost their lives while over 21 others also sustained injuries after trees crashed on them following a heavy storm on Sunday, March 19, 2017.

Most of the victims were students of the Wenchi Senior High School while others were tourists.

The tourist site was closed down while a committee was set up by government to probe the cause of the disaster.

Presenting the report to Parliament Tuesday, the Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts minister, Catherine Afeku, said despite the conclusion that the disaster was an act of God, other factors also contributed to the unfortunate event.

“The report concluded that although this was an act of God, a number of remote and immediate causes were identified as being instrumental to the accident.

“A lack of focus on public safety responsibility, a lack of adequate training and supervision of personnel, poor environmental management factors and impact of encroachers on the area which has exposed the soil to major erosion and made trees weak and vulnerable,” Mrs. Afeku told Parliament Tuesday.

The Creative Arts minister added that recommendations made by the committee are already being implemented to prevent any future disaster.

She also dismissed claims that members of the invincible forces – a pro-NPP vigilante group – were in charge of the Kintampo Waterfalls during the disaster.

The site will be reopened to the public on September 1.