John Muyamba

NGOMA – A 42-year-old woman from Livingstone, Zambia died when the boat she was travelling in capsized after being hit by a hippopotamus along the Mpuka River in the Ikaba area on Saturday.

The Ikaba area is situated in the far east of the Zambezi region in the Kabbe constituency. It falls under the Masubia Traditional Authority.

According to police reports, Nalumino Imbela was crossing the river in a boat with three other occupants who survived the hippo attack and managed to swim, while the deceased drowned. Prior to this incident, another drowning was reported on Saturday, 19 February from the Ngoma police station that two people drowned in the Kasaya River channel in the Kabbe South constituency.

 It was later established that one person managed to swim and cross the river, and another went missing. His body was later found and retrieved on Sunday afternoon, 20 February.  The deceased was identified as Mambole Percy Mazambani, (33), and the survivor is Matengu Mazambani, both Namibians, who are related. On 4 February, a 59-year-old man identified as Musialela Moses Luyanga was attacked by a hippopotamus while paddling a canoe along the Kasaya River channel. He was rescued and rushed to the Itomba clinic where he, unfortunately, died while waiting for an ambulance.