A student from the College of Engineering and Technology at the William V.S. Tubman University in Harper City, Maryland County, Mohamed N. Kamara, has drowned in the Atlantic Ocean in Harper.
The William V.S. Tubman University is a public institution in the southeastern region of Liberia. The late Student Kamara joined his colleagues early Thursday, 05 November officially Thanks-giving Day, in a beach outing when he reportedly drowned at about 1:00pm.
One eyewitnesses narrate: “Decease Mohamed Kamara and his friends were playing football in the ocean at Tubman beach, at which time, one of his friends threw a ball fast behind him; the decease [Mohamed] swim to get the ball, but while coming back to his friends, he got tired and subsequently started drowning, but his colleagues taught he was joking, so their attention was never drawn to his drowning.”
Other sources added that after few minutes, they all went after the ball and got it, leaving behind Mohamed N. Kamara, thinking that he was coming along with them.
They continued that when his friends left, it was another guy from among them identified as Shaka Konate, who noticed that Mohamed was not following at which time he had already started to drown and before they got there, the deceased had gone under the water.
According to them, they tried rescuing him but unsuccessfully so they left him to his unfortunate fate. Narrating in tears, friends of the deceased revealed that immediately after the incident, about five different divers went into the ocean to search for the late Mohamed, but didn’t succeed until the following day his remains were discovered along the coast.
There has been not report of foul play, but prior to his death, the late Mohamed N. Kamara served as a volunteer for the Tubman University Volunteer Movement, a non-for profit campus-based political organization that seeks to give back to communities through volunteerism.
The deceased was among 80 students who were trained by UNICEF last December to create awareness on water and sanitation, health and child birth registration, among others in Maryland County, southeast Liberia.
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His sudden death has drawn attention of several students of the Tubman University, including close friends and relatives.
Though the Liberia National Police, local authorities and family of the deceased have launched an investigation into circumstances that led to the drowning of the late Mohamed, this paper gathered the incident is not the first in the county.
Last year, during Christmas celebration at Fish Town beach, Harper District, two persons drowned and their remains were discovered the following day.
Residents drowning in the Atlantic Ocean during National Holidays seem to have become common in most parts of Liberia, including the capital, Monrovia, largely due to lack of lifeguards at most beachside recreation grounds.
By Patrick N. Mensah, Maryland–Editing by Jonathan Browne
