A 37-year-old man known as Gilbert Samuel has been found dead after drowning in Lake Malawi at Manyamba fishing dock in Nkhotakota.
Nkhotakota Police deputy spokesperson Paul Malimwe told Malawi24 that on the night of 15-16 August the man went on the lake using a canoe to fish.
According to Malimwe, it is believed that whilst Samuel was at the lake, heavy Mwera winds erupted that led the canoe to capsize due to the impact. Samuel did not return home.
Later, the matter of missing person was reported in all docks bordering Nkhotakota-Salima and Mkaika police unit in particular.
“On August 21, 2017 the body was found floating at Manyamba fishing dock in a decomposed state and burial was ordered,” Malimwe told Malawi24.
Postmortem by medical personnel from Kapiri health centre confirmed that the death was due to suffocation.
The deceased, Gilbert Samuel hailed from Mwanjoni village Traditional Authority Makanjira in Salima.
In a related incident, a 20-year-old man who was epileptic drowned in Nankhaka River in Lilongwe on Sunday.
In an interview with Malawi24, Kanengo Police Station spokesperson Laban Makalani identified the man as Ganizani James from Musa village in the area of Traditional Authority Nyambi in Machinga district.
Makalani told Malawi24 that the deceased James went to the river to fish alongside his friends.
“In the course of fishing it is reported that the man, who was epileptic, accidentally fell into the river. He drowned after failing to swim to safety.
“His friends reported the matter to elders in the village who visited the scene and found his body submerged,” Makalani told Malawi24.
Efforts to recover his body proved futile until on Tuesday when the body was seen floating on the river.
On Friday last week, two children both 3 years of age belonging to separate families also got drowned in the same river after they had gone to take a bath.
They drowned after swimming to deep area in the river.
Meanwhile police are strongly urging the fishermen to follow the instructions from the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services to avoid similar cases.
