Three people died on Sunday after a dug-out canoe they were travelling in capsized in Nkulamitete River, in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Ndamera in Nsanje district.
This is according to Nsanje Police Spokesperson Sergeant Agnes Zalakoma who identified the three as Master Frank aged 26 from Makhadza village, Chembe Agushito, 30, from Tipa village and Lonnex Helex aged 24 from Cholomali village all in the area of Traditional Authority Ndamera.
Two other people survived the accident.
Zalakoma said the accident happened at around 1pm on the fateful day when the five people were coming back from Chitomeni village going to their respective homes using a dugout canoe.
Whilst on their way to their respective homes, heavy winds on the river started and caused the canoe to capsize.
According to Zalakoma, only two people managed to swim up to the river bank while the other three failed.
Efforts by some well-wishers to rescue the three proved futile as they were found dead in the river.
Postmortem has been carried out and the results have shown that the three died due to suffocation.
