Date: Oct 15 , 2019 BY
Benjamin Glover & Della Russel Ocloo
Investigations have begun into the disappearance of two
Ghanaians in separate incidents at sea, the Marine Police in Tema have said.
The missing include a 55-year-old man, only known as Olu,
who is reported to have gone missing while aboard a canoe named, Behoko, on
September 9, 2019.
The canoe is said to have sailed from the Tema Canoe Basin
The Crime Officer of the Marine Police in Tema,
Superintendent Felix Charles Asare, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic, said about 30 minutes
past midnight on September 9, 2019, the crew members on the canoe detected that
Olu had gone missing, necessitating a search on suspicion that he could have
drowned.
The crew, he said, however, returned to the canoe basin
after a fruitless search and lodged a complaint with the Marine Police Unit.
The police, the crime officer said, had not been able to
establish any sign of violence or an incriminating evidence after a thorough
search on the canoe.
Missing observer
Already, the Marine Police are investigating the mysterious
disappearance of a Ghanaian fishing observer, Emmanuel Essien, who was said to
have gone missing aboard a fishing vessel, MV Meng 25, on July 5, 2019.
Supt. Asare updating the Daily Graphic on the case,
indicated that the Marine Police Unit was awaiting advice from the Attorney
General's department on what to do with the docket on Essien, aged 29.
He said the three Chinese crew members, namely Chief Officer
Yue Changlin, Second Chief Officer Zheng Shipu and a cook, Yang Chanfu, who
were aboard the vessel, together with 20 Ghanaian crew members with whom the
missing observer, Essien, shared a cabin, had all been interrogated.
Disappearance
Essien, an employee of the Fisheries Commission, was
assigned aboard the vessel on July 4, 2019 which set sail for an operation from
the Tema Fishing Harbour
Supt. Asare said the Marine Unit got wind of the
disappearance of Essien on July 6, 2019, after a report was made to it by the
Operations Manager of Kenbonad Fisheries Company, Mr Samuel Ben Turkson.
The police, together with officials of the Ghana Immigration
Service, Port Health, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and a
private security firm, K9 Security, he said, had with the aid of sniffer dogs
conducted thorough searches on board the fishing vessel, but "no sign of
violence or anything incriminating was found.”
"The search was extended to the deck, stern, hatch,
factory area and the engine room in an attempt to either locate Essien or see
if there was any sign of violence, but nothing was found," he added.
Investigations
The investigations, Supt. Asare said, revealed that the crew
at about 7 p.m. on July 5, 2019 while operating in the Apam waters detected
that Essien was not on the vessel, forcing the crew to suspend the fishing
operations in search of him, suspecting he might have drowned but they were not
successful.
He said the crew members told the police that they
communicated to other fishing vessels along the same route, soliciting their
assistance to search for the victim.
A search on the vessel by the police and stakeholders, the
crime officer said, revealed that the belongings of Essien, made up of a
fisheries documents, GN Bank savings and withdrawal booklet, a national ID
card, passport pictures, a GT Bank ATM card, a phone tablet, an Alcatel mobile
phone, reflective jackets and a pair of trousers among others were all intact
in his cabin.
Supt. Asare said some crew members also confirmed that they
last saw Essien at about 8 p.m. on July 4, 2019.
“A Chinese cook onboard the vessel, Yang Changfu, who said
he was on duty on the bridge, told us during our investigations that when he
closed and came to sleep, the cabin mates had pulled their curtains to cover
their beds, an indication that everyone was asleep, hence, he could not look on
the beds to see who was asleep and who wasn’t,” Supt. Asare stated.
The crew members, he said, had since been interrogated and
their caution statements taken from them individually, “but none have been able
to explain at what point in time Essien left the vessel”, Supt Asare stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment