Michael Mutonga Liswaniso
Rundu-A 24-year-old man drowned on Tuesday afternoon in an artificial dam at Sikondo village some 17 kilometres west of Rundu. The drowning victim has been identified as Boysen Mbambangandu whose lifeless body was retrieved by the police on Wednesday morning.
When this reporter arrived at the scene, a horde of onlookers, mainly community members from the village, were still standing at the man-made dam where the lifeless body was visible in the water.
According to Gideon Haihambo, a resident of the village, Mbambangandu went to the dam to bath, and he was accompanied by his friend. After bathing, the deceased dived into the water.
“What we only heard is that the deceased dived into the dam to swim but he was unable to swim on his own and when his friend tried to pull him out of the water, he failed, and feared for his life too. When he ran for assistance it was already too late. We will just wait for the police investigations and possibly a post-mortem. He maintained sober habits at all times after failing Grade 10 last year, so this incident is just an unfortunate one,” said Haihambo.
His next of keen were present at the scene and police investigations continue.
Sikondo village falls under the police jurisdiction of the Kavango West Region in the regional hub of Nkurenkuru.
* Michael Mutonga Liswaniso is an information officer employed by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology based in Rundu