<<Print>>

Two siblings who were returning from an errand drowned in a manhole at Manhea, near Amasaman in Accra, about 8:20 p.m. Friday. The incident occurred when Emmanuel Owusu, 12, attempted to save his sister, Christiana Owusu, five, from drowning but ended up slipping into the opened manhole. A friend of the siblings�, Alberta Amponsah, survived because she allegedly held on to a sugarcane plant after she had also slipped in an attempt to save Emmanuel. The Public Affairs Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Freeman Tettey, told graphic.com.gh that the deceased�s father, Mr Eric Owusu, had allegedly sent Emmanuel to collect some mosquito coils from a trader a kilometre away from their home about 5 p.m. on Friday, June 28, 2012. The parents, Mr Owusu and Madam Yaa Anokyewaa, are said to have then left for church, leaving the children behind. According to Mr Tettey, it was not until later in the evening that Emmanuel asked his sister, Christiana, and a friend of theirs, Alberta Amponsah, seven, to accompany him to collect the mosquito coils before his parents returned from church. When the children got to the trader�s residence, she told them that she had already sent the items and asked them to go back home. On their way, the children are said to have decided to use another route, which they later found to be very muddy. According to Mr Tettey, Christiana decided to wash her feet in what she thought was a pool of water but, unknown to her, the pool was rather a manhole filled with water. In the process of washing her feet, she slipped into the manhole and drowned. He said in a bid to pull his sister out of the water, Emmanuel also slipped and drowned. Mr Tettey said Alberta survived by a hair�s breadth, as she held on to a sugarcane plant growing near the manhole.