Eleven people are missing in southwest Ivory Coast after a hippo pushed a canoe on the Sassandra River, said Minister of Solidarity on Saturday, September 5.
“With a deep penalty that we knew about the disappearance of 11 people, including women, girls and a baby after the capacity of a boat caused by a hippo,” said Mysss Belmonde Dogo in a publication on his Facebook page.
The scene took place at the beginning of Friday morning, in the town of Buyo, he added, adding that 3 people have survived and that “the investigation continues to find that the victims taken disappeared.”
According to a study of ivory academics in 2022, hippo is the “most mentioned” species in incidents with humans that cause dead or injured.
Its population is estimated at around 500 people, distributed in several rivers in the south of the country, Sassandra or bandama in particular.
However, mortal shipwrecks of ships are not uncommon on the Ivory coast, often due to canoe overload used for passenger transport.
In April, twelve children and adolescents died drowned after the ability of a canoe in La Laguna near Abidjan.
Source: BFM TV
