The police in Aweil West County of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State say the body of a 35-year-old man was recovered on Thursdays after he drowned when a passenger boat he was in capsized.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, the county police director Maj. Deng Mathon Akot said the boat which was carrying seven people capsized on Saturday night in the Makadhiik River in Marial Baai Payam. Six people survived the ordeal.
“The drowned man is called Akook Lual Jac, 35-year-old. And the incident took place last Saturday 30 July. The body was recovered from the river today morning after completing more than five days. They were seven in number when they were crossing the river with a small boat which was overturned by the swift waves, the other passengers made it out but the deceased was unable to swim,’’ said Mathon.
The Aweil West County Executive Director, Atuer Arol Kuan, has also confirmed the incident and said the seven men who are relatives were crossing the river at night when the accident occurred.
“They were sailing from the small area called Mangar-Ater at 8 pm and they were seven people. When the boat overturned they got drowned, one died and the other six were rescued. The young men who were with him were all his maternal relatives," Arol said.
The deceased’s family members in Malual Center Payam, Aweil North have received the body of the deceased, and burial preparations were underway.