SINZOGORO – The Kavango West police were still searching the Kavango River Thursday afternoon in the hope of finding the body of a learner from Sinzogoro combined school, who was attacked by a hippopotamus on Tuesday afternoon at Sinzogoro village in Kapako constituency.
On Wednesday morning, villagers were gathered on the banks of the river, waiting for the police to arrive with their boat to search for the body of the 15-year-old grade five learner.
The police search was unsuccessful by yesterday afternoon.
“Tuesday, between 17h00 t0 16h00, we received a report that there was someone attacked by a hippo at Sinzogoro village. We sent our members to come to the scene, and it was discovered that there were some two kids fishing here. A hippo charged from the depth of the river and caught one of them and drowned him,’’ said the Kavango West police commander Julia Sakuwa-Neo, who confirmed the incident at the scene.
“The other boy escaped the attack and managed to run away to inform the rest of the people. Unfortunately, the other one was pulled down there to the depth. We suspect that the hippo probably trampled him at the bottom of the river and drowned. The boy was from this village; his name is Frans Nekaro Ngongo, and next of kin were informed,” Sakuwa-Neo noted.
Commissioner Sakuwa-Neo cautioned villagers to be cautious when making use of the river for their daily use, as many villagers along the Kavango River have no potable water and depend on the river to bath and do laundry.
“When I came here this morning, there was a group of hippos, and one could see that this river is infested with hippos, and one cannot just get in and do whatever they want to do. They need to be cautious – make sure that it is safe before they decide to jump in or start fishing or fetch water to wash their clothes,” she said.
According to the victim’s family, he went to school early morning and went back home in the afternoon before he left with his 13-year-old cousin.
“I wasn’t home that time when they left home in the afternoon. At 17h30, I received a phone call that there was a tragedy at the river, and my nephew was the victim. According to my other nephew who was with him, the hippo just came out of nowhere and surfaced while they were in the river,” said the victim’s uncle Damian Sindimba.
– jmuyamba@nepc.com.na