KATIMA MULILO – A jovial Monday afternoon for four minor children ended tragically when their lives were cut short after getting trapped in an old deep freezer at Cowboy location in Katima Mulilo.
The deceased children who are from different households were playing together at a house where the unused freezer lay idle outside.
It is alleged that the kids went inside the freezer as part of their play. Unfortunately, the freezer closed itself as it had a steel bar fitted to lock with a padlock. As a result, the kids got stuck inside and couldn’t open themselves out of the freezer. The children were allegedly only discovered after some time by someone who noticed that there was no movement of the kids as the place became silent. The incident occurred between 13h00 and 14h00.
Upon investigation, the person who discovered them followed their footprints which led her to the freezer as some of the kids’ shoes were also near the freezer.
She then opened the freezer and discovered that the kids were stuck inside and had suffocated.
The deceased are Precious Simataa, aged three, Chombo Matengu, also aged three, and six-year-old, Variety Lubilo, as well as Mwaka Muzimisa who is four years old.
The father of one of the victims, Aranges Shoro (21) said, he was at work when the incident occurred.
“When I came home for lunch, I found a lot of people surrounding the house. I came closer to find out what was happening. I found two kids lying under the shade. Two were responding to paramedics, but the other two unfortunately didn’t make it,” the distraught father narrated.
Sadly, moments later, the police confirmed that the two kids who survived and were rushed to the Katima Mulilo hospital also died.
Zambezi police commander Andreas Shilelo confirmed the incident.
“It is a wake-up call to all parents out there that we should look out for our houses’ environment if there are any unused items probably harmful to our children when they are playing. On behalf of the law-enforcement and security cluster, we register our deepest condolences to the bereaved families of those children,” he expressed.