Castro, Janet Bandu went missing exactly 9 years ago today

Today marks exactly nine years since the whole of Ghana was thrown into a state of disarray and gloom following the disappearance of Ghanaian singer Castro and one lady identified as Janet Bandu. The duo had gone to the Ada Estuary with Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan, a close friend of the musician. But the unfortunate happened and to date, the singer has not been found.

Castro, born Theophilus Tagoe who was also popularly referred to as Castro Under Fire was sensational and wowed music lovers with back-to-back hit songs including one that featured Asamoah Gyan. The missing duo had gone on holiday with Gyan and his elder brother Baffour Gyan. But an unfortunate accident meant the hiplife singer and his female friend would be gone forever as a police search resulted in no discovery. The jet ski was recovered on the same day but days of search for the duo could not produce them.

Asamoah who was very close to the musician and they did a number of songs together including the hit song, “African Girls” in 2010 later recounted what happened from the start of the planning to the day of the incident.

“Castro called me a week before I returned to Ghana and said he may not be able to go with[to Ada] us since a friend of his was bereaved, and he had to attend the funeral in Kumasi. A day before we went to Ada, he [Castro] came to my house and said he was on his way to Kumasi and would not join us. But whilst we were on our way to Ada, on the Accra-Tema motorway, we received a phone call that “Under” [Castro] wants us to wait for him. We parked at a fuel filling station where a crowd gathered to catch a glimpse of me. I later got the inclination it was destined to happen because he was initially not part of the trip. When we got to Ada, everything went fine. We were to spend three days. We started using the Jet Ski on the second day,” Gyan recounted.

Castro was a big-name player in the Ghanaian music space and had won a number of awards including two at the Ghana Music Awards in 2006, one in 2011 and another in 2014. He has hit songs including “Toffee”, “Boneshaker”, “Odo Pa” and a lot more.