A heartbreaking incident unfolded near the town of Kouroussa in Upper Guinea, where a group of young schoolgirls faced a fateful journey to take their college entrance exams.
In a devastating turn of events, their hopes and dreams were tragically cut short as their canoe capsized on the Niger River.
Officials, including a minister and a relative of one of the victims, have confirmed that at least seven precious lives have been lost in this harrowing accident.
This devastating loss has sent shockwaves through the community, leaving a deep sense of grief as the nation mourns the untimely demise of these aspiring students.
“We are struck by this bad news of the shipwreck of seven students who have lost their lives,” the Minister of Pre-university Education and Literacy, Guillaume Hawing , who is in the region for launch the first tests of the examination.
Mamadi Kéita, a security guard, told AFP that he lost his half-sister in this drowning. “She was leaving with her comrades for the other side of the Niger River to face the first tests of their 7th-year entrance exam which begins on Monday”.
“They embarked in an overloaded canoe which capsized under the weight of passengers and goods”, he added in tears on the telephone. “All the girls came from Kourala district and were going to Balato sub-prefecture, 40 km from Kouroussa prefecture,” he said.
Another local source assured AFP anonymously that the toll was only provisional and could be heavier. The operations to find bodies continue Sunday evening.