Three people have died from drowning in three separate incidents in the last two days, police have confirmed.
The three include a 32-year-old man from Umguza, an eight-month-old infant from Mahatshula and an unidentified male adult who was found floating on the flooded Umguza river.
In the first case, Mkhululi Tshuma of Bhiko Compound in Umguza was reportedly swept away while trying to cross the flooded Umguza river on Saturday morning on his way to work.
“The now deceased Mkhululi Tshuma aged 32 years of Bhiko compound Umguza went to work but did not return home. On the 21st of December 2020 his wife made some checks and found him floating on the flooded Umguza river,” said Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube.
The second one occurred on December 21, where a mother aged 22 years left her child aged 8 months sleeping on the bed with a bucket full of water by the side of the bed.
After 30 minutes the mother returned and discovered the infant had fallen into the bucket and drowned.
The third case is of an unknown male adult of approximately 30 years of age who was found floating at Umguza river along the airport road.
The body was taken to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) mortuary for post mortem.
“This is worrying as probably all these incidents were avoidable. We are always preaching the same gospel of removing water buckets from the vicinity of children but the campaign seem to be falling on deaf ears,” said Insp Ncube.
“We also urge members of the public not to cross flooded rivers but we are not taken seriously. We appeal to members of the public to desist from crossing flooded rivers or exposing their children to dangerous places with pits and buckets.”
