Inshore vessel sinks at Ada with four crew members missing

An inshore vessel sank in the marine waters of Goi in the Ada West District on Friday morning.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) reported that it sank with four crew members, comprising two Chinese and two Ghanaians, who are yet to be found.

The vessel, which departed from Tema, had 10 crew members on board when the incident occurred, but some fishermen from Goi intervened and rescued six of them.

According to one of the victims (name withheld), they were working on the vessel when they noticed a leakage in a part of it, so they informed the captain, who turned down their request to go ashore.

"We were on the vessel when we noticed the leakage, but the captain turned down our request to go ashore," he recounted.

He added that there were 10 people on the vessel, consisting of eight Ghanaians and two Chinese, when the incident happened.

Some fishermen from Goi who rescued the victims told the GNA that they were casting their nets in the sea when they heard cries for help, which prompted them to go to the scene.

"We saw two of them holding onto a cork tied to a rope, so we rescued them before seeing the other four adrift at sea, and we rescued them as well," one of the fishermen said.

Nene Joseph Tetteh Agamah II, the Chief Fisherman of Goi, confirmed the incident to the GNA, disclosing that it had been reported to the Ada West District police command at Sege.

He also revealed that officials from the National Security Agency had visited the scene, adding that the residents of Goi had pledged to search for the remaining four crew members who were yet to be found.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jerome Deamesi, a Board Member (Finance) of the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association (GITA), has refuted some media reports claiming that the incident involved a trawler.

Mr. Deamesi clarified that the vessel in question does not qualify as a trawler but is an inshore vessel, as it was wooden, adding that trawlers typically have more than 10 crew members, usually comprising six Chinese and 22 Ghanaians.

He stated that it was even illegal for an inshore vessel to employ foreign crew members.

He further explained that the zone of the sea where the incident occurred was not designated for trawler operations.