A three-year-old boy has died at Lebanon Zone 2, a suburb of Ashaiman in the Greater Accra Region after falling into an open septic tank in the area amidst frantic efforts by rescuers from the Motorway Station of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).
The boy fell into the septic pit while he was playing with his sibling.
Residents of the area spotted the slippers and playing toy of the boy around the toilet pit, raising suspicion that the he could be in the pit.
Persons in the vicinity began breaking down the pit and later called in the Fire Service for assistance.
The crew dashed to the scene and drained the sewage so as to gain access to the casualty and after 26 minutes, the men descended into the pit with a ladder to recover the body.
The body was taken away by the community members to Trinity Hospital in the area but medics pronounced the boy dead on arrival, according to the GNFS.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the 3-year old boy accidentally fell into the open sewage pit, got drowned and suffocated as a result.
The GNFS has therefore advised parents to keep an eye on their wards whenever they are playing and all open septic tanks/pits not in use should be covered to avert the recurrence of this unfortunate incident.
By Vincent Kubi