By Judith Sibanda
A joint team made up of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) rangers, have retrieved the body of a male adult which was found on Sunday morning floating in the Zambezi River.
The deceased man, who is yet to be identified, was spotted floating approximately 5 kilometres from the main falls at Rapids 8 where rafting activities are conducted.
A police source who was part of the rescue team confirmed to CITE.
“We retrieved the remains about an hour ago,” the source said around 5PM.
“It was a huge challenge to retrieve the body as it was trapped where there are rocks and raging waters so we took almost 18 hours to pull the body out, and unfortunately it is an advanced state of decomposition.”
Matabeleland North police spokesman, Inspector Glory Banda could not be reached for comment, but had earlier told CITE that the reasons for the delay in retrieving the body was because of raging waters in the river, making it if difficult for police to dive in.
Meanwhile, Zimparks and police officials are still trying to retrieve Roy Dikinya’s body who tripped and fell into an 108 meter gorge on New Year’s day.
His body, according to Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) spokesperson Tinashe Farawo is trapped at a depth of 100 meter down the gorge.
“Yes, he is still where he was located,” Farawo said.
“The place is slippery, and because of the nature of the rainforest, there is also too much rain which also makes it difficult for security personnel to retrieve the body.”
