A 43-year-old man has died after drowning in Mulunguzi River, Balaka District.
The district’s deputy police spokesperson, sergeant Mphatso Munthali, has since identified the deceased as Eleviyo Mutchaya.
According to Munthali, the deceased, who had a history of epilepsy left his home on Tuesday this week to buy local chickens from the surrounding villages for his usual business endeavours. However, he did not return home.
Upon noticing that the deceased was missing, his wife embarked on searching for him and later found his bicycle lying along the river bank. This prompted her to report the matter to the villagers, who too immediately joined the search and rescue effort, only to find his dead body in the river.
Munthali further says a postmortem conducted by medics revealed that death was due to suffocation secondary to drowning.
Meanwhile, police are appealing to the general public to desist from walking or playing near water bodies to prevent similar occurrences.
The late Mutchaya hailed from Mgona village, Traditional Authority Chowe in Mangochi District.
