Fourth year Poly student drowns in Lake Malawi
A Fourth Year Polytechnic student, Evance Banda, died on Saturday after drowning in Lake Malawi in Mangochi, police have confirmed.
Banda was among the Polytechnic’s fourth year students who were having a symposium at Andrews Holiday Resort in the lake shore district and he met his fate when the students went swimming around noon
According to Mangochi Police Station Deputy Spokesperson, Sergeant Amina Tepani Daudi, the incident happened around 12 pm when Banda booked a boat and sailed into deep waters where he then jumped off the boat to swim but failed and consequently drowned.
“Efforts by the boat operator to rescue him proved futile and when he was later retrieved from the water he was rushed to Mangochi District Hospital where he was pronounced dead,” Daudi said.
She said the matter was reported to Mangochi Police Station who visited the scene of the incident.
A postmortem conducted at the hospital revealed that death was due to suffocation.
Banda hailed from Mphimbi Village, Traditional Authority Mponela in Dowa.
The Police have since appealed to members of the general public to always use life jackets whenever they go swimming to avoid similar incidents.
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I am not aware of the full circumstances that led this death but year in year out when students go to the lake we hear of such incidents. One other factor that causes this is that students swim under the influence of beer. They forget water is dangerous and behave irresponsibly. In the end such deaths do happen and the nation loses on productive citizens not to mention of the devastation such deaths cause to parents and relatives. We cant mix liquor and swimming in the say way we cant mix liquor and driving.
for your own information, he was not under any influence of any alcohol or drugs..
May his soul rest in eternal peace.
laws should be enacted to protect our people.
1.All boat owners and operators must be trained on safety.
2.Anyone swimming on the lake must be bound by rules not to swim beyond certain areas.
3.Government has a role to play by fixing dangerous warning signs where the lake is deep .
4.Anyone going for a swim must put on safety gear and anyone found should face the law regardless of whether someone is experienced or not.
5.All beach owners must be trained on safety .
Very bad indeed but Marley said and I quote. “Don’t jump into the water if you can’t swim.” Lets take extra precautions when at the lake. MHSRIP.
This is really sad….