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allAfrica.com: Cameroon: Six Drown At Mile 6 Beach (Page 1 of 1)
A ceremony to launch a new Deaf Development Association in Limbe, has ended in drama leaving six persons dead at the Mile 6 Beach. The incident occurred Sunday 25 November between 8 and 9 am while a group of 40 went for swimming enjoyment. Unfortunately six of them drowned in the sea. The deceased include: Philippe Mve (35), Franklin Marcel Beke (33), Blaise Wafo Ndetatsin (33, born in Bafoussam), Stephen Laontso (32, born in Douala), Miss Gille Malogo (28, born in Yaounde) and John Amos (25, Nigerian).
It happened that last Saturday 24 November, over 70 persons including the deaf and dumb assembled at the Limbe City Hall to launch the Deaf Development Association of Limbe with its President Mrs Colette Mose, herself a deaf. The ceremony took till 4 am Sunday morning. All stayed the night at the ceremonial hall till dawn (Sunday). While others went home, some 40 of the participants at the ceremony decided to go for beach swimming enjoyment. At the Mile 6 Beach near the National Refinery Company (SONARA), the beach goers paid CFA 200 francs each to gain access to swim.
According to Paul Ndoka, a French teacher with the Buea School for the Deaf (who was amongst the swimmers), "After a few hours of swimming and playing at the beach, we noticed the absence of some of us and we raised alarm reporting the matter to the SONARA Gendarmerie. By afternoon, two bodies of the six disappeared persons were found: Mve and Beke."
The third body Blaise Wafo's was found the next day Monday 26 November. All the bodies were taken to the Limbe Provincial Hospital mortuary. Blaise's corpse was transported to his home-town Bafoussam Tuesday 27 November by his father Ndetatsin. The pathetic story about Blaise Wafo is that he was a "Maitrise" graduate in Biology. After a long spell of unemployment, he found solace to train as a Language Signs interpreter in the University of Gallaudet (Washington).
Gallaudet is said to be the lone university in the world that offers the specialty of Language Signs. Blaise Wafo was the second Cameroonian graduate of Gallaudet in that specialty after Njok Bibum Aloysius, today proprietor of the Deaf School of Buea. Blaise Wafo came to Buea a week ago to seek recruitment as a Language Signs teacher at the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters in the University of Buea.
After a failed appointment the previous Wednesday, Wafo was due recruitment interview with UB authorities Wednesday 28 November. And that is what kept him waiting in Buea within which time he involved himself in the Limbe ceremony and subsequently met his death at the sea. Wafo was not handicapped in any way; neither was he deaf or dumb.
Drowning is not a rare phenomenon at the Limbe shores but this incident has raised questions as to how the Limbe shores and beaches are protected. To whom did the beach visitors pay money ? What service were they to offer in consideration of the money they received from the beach goers ? Who are those venturing into the sea without necessary swimming skills and life jackets ? Why was it absolutely necessary to go swimming at sea as early as 8 am ?
A ceremony to launch a new Deaf Development Association in Limbe, has ended in drama leaving six persons dead at the Mile 6 Beach. The incident occurred Sunday 25 November between 8 and 9 am while a group of 40 went for swimming enjoyment. Unfortunately six of them drowned in the sea. The deceased include: Philippe Mve (35), Franklin Marcel Beke (33), Blaise Wafo Ndetatsin (33, born in Bafoussam), Stephen Laontso (32, born in Douala), Miss Gille Malogo (28, born in Yaounde) and John Amos (25, Nigerian).
It happened that last Saturday 24 November, over 70 persons including the deaf and dumb assembled at the Limbe City Hall to launch the Deaf Development Association of Limbe with its President Mrs Colette Mose, herself a deaf. The ceremony took till 4 am Sunday morning. All stayed the night at the ceremonial hall till dawn (Sunday). While others went home, some 40 of the participants at the ceremony decided to go for beach swimming enjoyment. At the Mile 6 Beach near the National Refinery Company (SONARA), the beach goers paid CFA 200 francs each to gain access to swim.
According to Paul Ndoka, a French teacher with the Buea School for the Deaf (who was amongst the swimmers), "After a few hours of swimming and playing at the beach, we noticed the absence of some of us and we raised alarm reporting the matter to the SONARA Gendarmerie. By afternoon, two bodies of the six disappeared persons were found: Mve and Beke."
The third body Blaise Wafo's was found the next day Monday 26 November. All the bodies were taken to the Limbe Provincial Hospital mortuary. Blaise's corpse was transported to his home-town Bafoussam Tuesday 27 November by his father Ndetatsin. The pathetic story about Blaise Wafo is that he was a "Maitrise" graduate in Biology. After a long spell of unemployment, he found solace to train as a Language Signs interpreter in the University of Gallaudet (Washington).
Gallaudet is said to be the lone university in the world that offers the specialty of Language Signs. Blaise Wafo was the second Cameroonian graduate of Gallaudet in that specialty after Njok Bibum Aloysius, today proprietor of the Deaf School of Buea. Blaise Wafo came to Buea a week ago to seek recruitment as a Language Signs teacher at the Advanced School of Translators and Interpreters in the University of Buea.
After a failed appointment the previous Wednesday, Wafo was due recruitment interview with UB authorities Wednesday 28 November. And that is what kept him waiting in Buea within which time he involved himself in the Limbe ceremony and subsequently met his death at the sea. Wafo was not handicapped in any way; neither was he deaf or dumb.
Drowning is not a rare phenomenon at the Limbe shores but this incident has raised questions as to how the Limbe shores and beaches are protected. To whom did the beach visitors pay money ? What service were they to offer in consideration of the money they received from the beach goers ? Who are those venturing into the sea without necessary swimming skills and life jackets ? Why was it absolutely necessary to go swimming at sea as early as 8 am ?