Ongwediva
An eleven-year-old boy died after suffocating under a heap of sand dumped by a bulldozer that was excavating and loading sand near a road construction site in the north.
The victim was playing with other children when the incident happened last Friday at about 17h30, next to the Omungwelume-Oshakati road near Etayi in Omusati Region.
According to the the Omusati Regional Police public relations officer, Warrant Officer Lineekela Shikongo, a group of six boys between the ages of nine and 14, including the deceased, were playing at the site where the bulldozer was moving sand. The boys, having sneaked onto the site, hid behind the heaps of sand when the bulldozer approached and when it moved away they continued with their games, apparently unaware of the danger.
Shikongo said that at one stage the deceased could not get out of the way of the sand being dumped, although the other boys did, and he died under the sand dumped by the bulldozer.
Shikongo confirmed that the bulldozer was working on the road between Omungwelume and Oshakati that is currently under construction.
The deceased was identified as Benedictus Ishinawa Petrus, an eleven-year-old boy from Oluti village near Etayi.
His corpse was taken to the Okahao police mortuary and his next of kin were notified.
A police docket on the incident will be forwarded to the prosecutor general for a final decision on whether to prosecute, or to declare the incident as a misadventure with no negligence on the part of the driver.