Storm drifts Afram Plains ferry off course; leaves stranded passengers at the mercy of boats, canoes

Some stranded passengers on the Volta Lake Transport Authorities pontoon, plying between Ekye Amafrom and Adawso on Tuesday night had to be rescued with canoes after a storm drifted the ferry off course.

The vessel according to reports, encountered a storm on a return trip from Ekye Amanfrom to Adawso and due to one of its engines being out of service the captain could do very little to navigate the storm.

The pontoon was thus carried away by the storm off its course to a different location on the lake thereby leaving several passengers and drivers stranded with cars carrying goods.

Spokesperson of the National Cargo Drivers Association Dickson Agyei Donkor, in an interview with Joynews, monitored by GhanaWeb said the situation was as a result of a faulty engine of one of the ferries.

He lamented about the situation, indicating that it has been so for over six months now and all efforts to get authorities to fix the engine has so far not yielded any results despite assurances given.

“The pontoon has two engines. One is already spoilt. We have constantly complained about it. We have reported to the DCE, Yaw Ofori who also led us to the Ministry. There, they called the Volta River Authority and they assured us they would come and repair the other engine,” he told JoyNews.

Due to Tuesday’s development, the stranded passengers, according to reports, had to be evacuated with the aid of canoes and boats, powered by outboard motors, to safety whiles the vessel's captain and his crew had to spend the night on the lake.

The Volta Lake Transport Authority is said to have dispatched another vessel to help with the crossing of the river in the interim.