Alibori: Already eight dead by drowning

Since the beginning of August the northern part of Benin has recorded heavy rainfall. This heavy rainfall fills the various rivers and streams of the Alibori department. This heavy rain created enormous material and human damage. This is how drowning deaths are recorded in the communes of Kandi and Malanville.

Indeed, the torrential rain that fell in the commune of Kandi on Wednesday night 25 August to Thursday 26 August 2021 took away a young man in his thirties. The scene took place in Serkalè a village in Angaradébou district in Kandi commune. After this drama on Wednesday night, it's saturday 28 August that the young man's lifeless body was found. Also on the same day of Saturday 28 August, the commune of Kandi records two more deaths by drowning. It is about a woman with her child on her back who fell into the water in Kongou, a village located in the first district of Kandi. The two lifeless bodies were removed from this water during the night around 9 p.m.. This brings to four (04), the number of drowning deaths in Kandi.

In the town of Malanville, 4 young girls lost their lives by drowning on Monday 30 August 2021. According to cross-checks, the 4 young girls of an average age of twenty, all from Malanville, were returning from Kotchi, a village in the district of this city where they had gone to buy corn when the boat carrying them overturned. Informed the elements of the Republican Police and the firefighters as well as the political and administrative authorities went to the village for the usage report. The Alibori department has eight (08) drowning deaths to date. The rainy season continues and the risk of drowning deaths is enormous.

The government alert

Already the Minister of the Interior, sounded the alarm bell on 20 last august. Through a press release, he asked the agencies in charge of civil protection to take action to take action at the appropriate time. He also called on the population to have civic behavior. For this purpose, the departmental risk and disaster platform organizes awareness sessions. It invites people who have frequented rivers and streams less in these times of heavy rainfall. But the observation shows that several villages in the communes of Malanville and Karimama are only accessible by canoes or boats.. So what needs to be done to limit drowning deaths in Alibori department ?

Bachirou ISSA