ONGWEDIVA – According to police in the Omusati Region three drownings were reported over the weekend.
Sergeant Hesekiel Hamalwa of the police public relations department in the region confirmed that two elderly men and a toddler drowned over the weekend. The youngest of the victims, a toddler from Omindaba, a village in the Onesi constituency, drowned in a well not far from home on Sunday at an unknown time. Hamalwa said the young girl was at home with an 11-year-old boy, who later left her to herd animals around 11h00. When the boy returned around 19h00 the young girl was nowhere to be found. The boy then followed her trail, which led to the well where her body was found floating. The body of an elderly man, 65-year-old Likius Iiyelekwa, was discovered floating in the Calueque River. The corpse was discovered by villagers who had gone to collect water in the Omahenene area last week Friday. Iiyelekwa was last seen at Etunda location in Omahenene on February 25. Iiyelekwa was an Angolan national from Onghiwiyu ya Hailonga in Ombadja.
Another elderly man was also reported to have drowned in the Calueque River on Saturday. The victim Elia Timoteus from Omufitu Wonghete in Outapi is reported to have drowned around 15h00 last week Saturday. Villagers who were passing by the river discovered his body at Etunda, a village in Ruacana. In an unrelated case a 23-year-old Angolan national committed suicide at midnight on Saturday at Uukwanandjenga, a village in the Tsandi constituency. According to Sergeant Hesekiel Hamalwa, Jokonia Kawaya Kashuupulwa hanged himself with his waist belt. His body was discovered the following morning by a co-worker hanging from a tree in a mahangu field. Kashuupulwa was employed as a domestic worker in the village.
By Nuusita Ashipala