One Malawian who was amongst 884 returnees died whilst coming back to Malawi from South Africa on Saturday.
According to Mwanza border public relations officer, Inspector Pasqually Zulu, the deceased has been identified as 29-year-old man Masautso Maononga, 29, from Joliji village, Traditional Authority Mchiramwera in Thyolo district.
Inspector Zulu said Masautso who was staying at Mpumalanga in South Africa since 2017, passed on around 1600 hours on Saturday, December 26 along Tete-Zobue route whilst in transit to Malawi.
However, it is not yet known what the returnee succumbed to as medical personnel are yet to release postmortem results though unconfirmed reports indicate that he had problems in breathing.
Out of the total 19 buses, one bus was carrying accompanied minors while 4 buses carried 251 Malawian nationals who were arrested in South Africa for violating immigration laws and were being kept at Lindera Detention Center and the rest of the buses carried self-repatriated returnees.
Meanwhile, the returnees are expected to be released today to their respective destinations upon finalization of all border formalities which include health clearance amid COVID-19 global healthy crisis.
This is the 23rd cohort of Malawian returnees which is coming amid 14-day border closure, initiative which the Malawi government ordered to control the importation and spread of a new variant of coronavirus into the country.
