Tree falls on students at tourist hot-spot, kills at least 17

ACCRA, Ghana -- A large tree fall during a storm at Ghana’s Kintampo Waterfall has killed at least 17 people, mostly students, as they were visiting the site north of the capital on Sunday, officials said Monday.

The Reuters news agency quoted police as saying dozens of people -- most of them day-trippers -- were swimming in a pool at the base of a waterfall when the massive tree toppled into it.

As of Monday, 17 bodies had been retrieved at the resort, about 257 miles north of the capital of Accra, Ghana police commander Desmond Owusu-Boampong told local media. Most of the dead are students from the Wenchi Methodist Secondary School and the University of Energy and Natural Resources, he said.

Ghana’s Tourism Minister Catherine Afeku has expressed sympathies to the families of the victims caught in the tragic rainstorm at Kintampo waterfalls.

“We extend our condolences to the families of the dead and pray for the injured who have been rushed to the Kintampo and Techiman General Hospitals,” she said.

The Ghana Tourism Authority will work closely with police and Kintampo local officials to ensure the families receive needed support and information, she said.