BBC crew narrowly escape death in Malawi after being mistaken for ‘blood suckers’

BBC journalists investigating a series of mysterious murders in Malawi have narrowly escaped death after  villagers  accuse them of being ‘ blood suckers’ [vampire child killers].

The team were working undercover to expose men who claim to suck the blood of children to make get-rich amulets when they were attacked by a crowd of furious villagers.

Locals believe the body parts of the dead children had been ritually removed to be used by local ‘witch doctors’ as magical charms.

They also accuse the witch doctor killers of drinking the children’s’ blood on the orders of wealthy clients to pass on ‘good luck’ to them.

Ghanaian undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas had approached a local witch doctor pretending to be a businessman.

During a late night meeting, the witch doctor offered to kill and drink a child’s blood to create good luck for Anas’s fake character.

However their meeting was interrupted by angry villagers, who mistook Anas and his film crew for the witch doctor and his accomplice.

BBC Video footage shows them being confronted by the angry mob who threaten to kill them, pelt them with stones and destroy their vehicle.

Last year, Malawi saw a spate of ‘vampire’-related attacks, after rumours began spreading from Mozambique and in to the southern districts of Mulanje and Phalombe.

From September to December 2017, at least nine people accused of being blood-suckers were killed by vigilante mobs, and hundreds of villagers were arrested in connection with alleged mob murders.

The violence even prompted the United Nations and the U.S. embassy to declare some parts of the country no-go zones, and the UN pulled staff from the country.

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