Aweil police investigates death by drowning of a pregnant teenager

A 25-year-old man is being held in police custody following the death of a teenage girl in Aweil West County, Northern Bahr el Ghazal.

The body of the deceased, a 17-year-old girl, was found floating in Nyamlel River on Saturday.

Police say a post-mortem indicates that the girl drowned while pregnant.

Akok Yai Akok, Head of Nyamlel Police Unit said the body was found by fishermen.

“I was called by the fishermen that they found a body of a dead girl in the river, so we rushed there and…it was discovered that she was pregnant. After investigations, we were shown a boy who was being accused of being the one responsible for the pregnancy,” he narrated.

Lual Kahmis Lual, the in charge of Nyamlel Primary Health Care Center, who examined the body of the deceased said: “we realized that she was pregnant… I believe nobody knew about it in the first place.”

Police said investigations to understand the circumstance that preceded the death of the teenager are ongoing.