Fifteen persons have been confirmed dead by the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) after a boat carrying them capsized on the Volta Lake near Kete Krachi in the Oti region.

The unfortunate incident occured on Saturday, October 11, 2025, at approximately 1:30 PM, when the small boat carrying passengers, reportedly returning from a funeral at Okuma to Bovime, both in the Krachi West District of the Oti Region, tragically capsized. 

Preliminary reports, according to the GMA indicated that the boat was overloaded beyond its safe operational capacity, hence the incident.

The GMA in a statement dated Sunday, October 12, 2025, said it viewed the incident as a "critical and unacceptable breach of safety standards and is committed to full transparency and decisive corrective action". 

The authority has since deployed an investigative team comprising maritime safety inspectors and personnel from the Navy Task Force in Dambai to the scene.

They pledged their full commitment to ensuring safe use of the Volta Lake and urged passengers to avoid boarding an overloaded vessel or a boat without lifejackets. They urged boat owners to prioritise the safety of their passengers against their personal daily gains.

Preliminary investigations revealed that 11 of the deceased were children between the ages of two and 14 years, whiles the remaining four victims were adults, comprising three women and one man aged between 18 to 64 years. 

Four other adults who were on board survived the accident. 

Meanwhile, the bodies of 12 of the deceased have been deposited at the Kete Krachi and Worawora Government Hospital mortuaries, while the remaining three children have since been laid to rest. 

The Ghana Maritime Authority said the team's mandate was to establish the precise cause of the accident, identify any violations of safety regulations, and ensure that all responsible parties were held fully accountable under the law. They added that the committee’s findings would inform urgent enforcement measures to prevent a recurrence of such tragedies on inland waterways. 

GMA said they were launching an extensive and sustained lakeside safety enforcement operation to ensure that all boats, especially those operating at night, strictly complied with passenger limits, mandatory lifejacket use, and operational permit requirements.

According to the authority, boats found in violation of safety laws would be seized and their operators prosecuted. 

The Ghana Maritime Authority extended their deepest condolences to the bereaved families and the Kete Krachi community as they mourned their beloved ones.

"The GMA reaffirms its unwavering commitment to improving and strictly enforcing safe water transport across all communities along the Volta Lake," the GMA statement said, continuing, "We appeal to every citizen, community elder, and family member living along the lakeshore to act as vigilant custodians of safety do not board any boat that is visibly overloaded or lacks lifejackets. Your vigilance and refusal could save lives, especially those of children."

"The GMA remains resolute to unraveling the root causes of this disaster and implementing measures to ensure that no such tragedy ever occurs again on the Volta Lake," the authority said.