GRAND KRU – Police investigation into the drowning death of a 39-year-old man, Moses Williams, in Liberia’s southeastern Grand Kru County, has revealed that the tragedy was caused by negligence.
The circumstances surrounding the incident, according to eyewitness accounts and the Liberia National Police (LNP) suggest that the victim failed to thread more cautiously, leading to the fatal outcome.
Moses Williams alias ZB, met his demise on 16 October, while using the Dorbor River to cross over from Maryland County into Klaydepper Town, Dorbor Statutory District, Grand Kru County.
Williams, a resident of Maryland County, on the fateful day of his death, was attempting to cross the overflowing river via a floater, which he improperly handled, according to an eyewitness account.
Citizens of Klaydepper Town including family members of the deceased told police investigators that instead of Williams mounting the floater to cross the high-current river, he chose to swim with the floater while holding onto a rope attached to it.
Another eyewitness account divulged that as Williams reached the middle of the river, the rope to which he was clinging to have access to the floater, was forcefully pulled out of his hands by a strong wave from the Dorbor River, resulting in him getting drowned.
At the incident scene, a 15-man coroner jurors convened by the LNP, to assist the police and a coroner in an inquest to help determine the cause of death of the deceased, following medical examinations, confirmed Williams dead, indicating that he died as a result of drowning and that there was no foul-play regarding his demise.
Following the coroner jurors’ report, police authorities in Grand Kru, who attributed Williams’ death to negligent homicide, immediately turned over to family members the victim’s corpse for burial.
Edited by Olando Testimony Zeongar.