Hunter drowns in river while chasing grasscutter

A 40-year-old hunter got drowned in river Oda while chasing a grass-cutter during a hunting expedition at Kyiransa, near Senfi in the Bekwai Municipality.

Kwaku Addai, alias Atta Kuma, was said to have died when he jumped into the river in an attempt to catch the animal, that entered the river during a hot chase.

Mr Benjamin Amponsah, the Unit Committee Chairman of Kyiransa, who briefed the Ghana News Agency on the incident said, Addai, together with his two other friends Samuel Obinim and Collins Agyeman and their dogs, went to the bush on Sunday May 07, this year, to hunt for game.

“Luckily for them, they saw one grass-cutter, so they chased it with their dogs, but unfortunately, the grass-cutter jumped into the Oda River.

Addai also followed up in the river in an attempt to catch the animal, but unfortunately for him, he got drowned in it,” Mr Amponsah narrated.

All attempts by his friends to rescue him proved futile.

They, therefore, rushed home and informed the people in the community and a search party was mobilized to search for the deceased but they could not find the body.

According to Mr Amponsah, the matter was reported to the police.

He said the search party went again to the banks of the river and after some rituals were performed by the elders of the community, the body of Addai was retrieved from the river on Monday morning.

The Unit Committee chairman said the community members were exceedingly shocked after they retrieved the body and found no signs on the body indicating that he had drowned in a river.

Some of the community members who spoke to the GNA said they suspected that the Sunday hunting on the riverside was a taboo, hence the bad omen which befell the friends.

Addai left behind a wife and three children.

Source: GNA