Benin – Ouémé River Tragedy: one more body found, confusion continues
Search operations in the Ouémé River, following the tragedy in Glazoué, have thrown up a significant surprise. While the passenger list indicated that six victims were still to be recovered, divers finally surfaced with seven on Thursday, August 21, 2025.
SUMMARY
The findings puzzle both rescuers and authorities. The bus driver and the conductor both perished in the accident, leaving no direct witnesses capable of explaining the origin of this additional body.
Several hypotheses are circulating, including one that suggests some children may not have been registered as official passengers. But for now, these are only assumptions awaiting the conclusions of ongoing investigations.
As a reminder, the provisional toll on Tuesday, August 19, already reported 26 victims retrieved from the river.
Relentless search efforts continue
On the ground, the teams of divers and local fishermen continue the search on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Their goal remains to find any other possible victims to settle any ambiguity regarding the exact number of passengers involved in the tragedy.
Note that, according to the Beninese Agency for Civilian Protection (ABPC), two of the 54 officially registered passengers had left the bus at Bohicon before the accident. A detail that could shed light on the discrepancies observed in the numbers.
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