Two minors from Cowdray Park drowned on Wednesday while swimming in an open pit at a fuel station construction site.
Ward 28 Councillor, Kidwell Mujuru confirmed the incident to CITE.
Cllr Mujuru said the minors were coming from school and decided to take a swim in the open pit.
Cllr Mujuru said the contractors had dug trenches in the area and since the beginning of the rainy season, water had been collecting in them, attracting minors around the area.
“I can confirm that we encountered a very tragic incident this afternoon. Three minors were coming from school and when they got to the pit they decided to take a swim. Two of them, one from Mahlathini Primary and the other Mkhithika Primary took off their uniforms and jumped into the pit. The one who had remained outside realised that the two were drowning so he ran home to alert the elders,” said Cllr Mujuru.
“The parents called the Fire Brigade and the police to attend to the scene but unfortunately both parties could not retrieve the minors. None of them jumped into the pit, they were trying to fish them out. They failed to do so because the minors had jumped in naked. After a futile exercise, a member of the community, who is a member of the Zimbabwe National Army volunteered to jump in and he retrieved them.”
Cllr Mujuru said the construction area was originally contracted to a company called Fuel Solutions but the company had handed over the area to trek garage effective last week.
“The area originally belonged to Fuel Solutions. They had started the construction process last year. They had done some digging but had not put any perimeter fence to keep community members away from the place. Trek garage only took over last week and are yet to begin working on the area,” said Cllr Mujuru.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said he had not received the report.
