A FAIRYTALE road trip and expedition for Harare pupils at one of Eastern Highlands’ tourism sites, Nyangombe Falls in Nyanga ended tragically after a 17-year-old boy drowned last week on Saturday.
Prince Matiza, who was a Lower Sixth pupil at First Choice
Academy in Harare, and resided in Waterfalls drowned a few minutes after
attempting to swim in Nyangombe River.
Matiza was part of 100 pupils and six teachers who had
travelled from Harare on a tour of the picturesque Nyanga tourism facilities.
Efforts by one of the teachers, Mr Elijah Matanhire (34) to
rescue Matiza proved fruitless as he had lost consciousness, and later died.
One of the Zimparks officials who requested anonymity
citing protocol, said Matiza did not notify either ZimParks authorities or any
of the teachers about the swimming expedition.
He is reported to have sneaked from the chalets where they
were camped and went to the falls where he met his fate.
“It was a sad and unfortunate development. This has never
happened before. We usually accompany guests on their tour of the falls, but we
learnt that the pupil sneaked from the camp, and proceeded to the falls where
drowned while swimming,” said the official.
Acting Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Assistant
Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka confirmed the incident, and said Matiza died upon
admission at Nyanga District Hospital.
“We can confirm the death of Prince Matiza, a Lower Sixth
pupil at First Choice Academy in Harare. Prince was among 100 pupils and six
teachers who had gone to Nyanga on a school trip. Matiza sneaked from their
camp and went to the falls without notifying the ZimParks team.
“He drowned, and a teacher, Mr Elijah Matanhire (34) was
one of the first people to attend the scene. Mr Matiza searched for Matiza’s
body and retrieved it. He was unconscious and died upon admission at Nyanga
District Hospital,” he said.
He appealed to people to be cautious when playing near
water bodies.
No foul play is suspected. ZimParks spokesperson, Mr
Tinashe Farawo, confirmed the incident.
We can confirm that the incident happened, and it is quite
unfortunate. The 17-year-old boy was pronounced dead upon arrival at Nyanga
District Hospital,” he said.
Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy, Clayton Magidi drowned in
Nyadimba River in Chief Chikore’s area in Headlands last Sunday.
Police said Clayton was coming from church with Ngonidzashe
Makwizo when they decided to swim in Nyadimba River.
He drowned before villagers could rescue him. Manica Post
0 comments:
Post a Comment