By Mabinty M. Kamara
19-year-old Kadiatu Ali has reportedly drowned in the River Sewa in the early hours of Thursday 13th May 2021 after she went to wash clothes on the banks of the river.
Kadiatu was said to be pregnant and has a history of epilepsy from which she normally experienced seizures.
Speaking to Politico, the town chief Abdulai Wanga of Jembeh town in Bo district Southern Sierra Leone where Kadiatu and family lived before the incident said the victim went to the river along with some kids. She reportedly suffered epileptic attack and could not be rescued by the children around her. The children instead raced to Jembeh some distance away to report the incident.
“Later, one young man went to the river to bath for the Eid ul-Fitr and saw clothes with nobody around. Getting closer he saw a body so he ran to call the police. He met me on the street and explained what he saw to me. We went together to report the matter to the Police who visited the scene,” he said.
He added that the place where Kadiatu drowned is very shallow and believed she could have been rescued if adults were around.
The Officer Commandin Jembeh Police post, Sergeant Mohamed Bangura told Politico that the remains of Kadiatu were later handed over to the husband for funeral rites after their investigations revealed no foul play over her death.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online
