In the Copperbelt’s Mpongwe district, a 38-year-old man perished while attempting to recover the body of another drowning victim.
When searching for Jeffrey Ilela’s body, Lazarus Mayuka, who has been assisting to recover bodies from the lake whenever there are drowning incidents, was unable to make it out of the water.
The sad occurrence was confirmed by Copperbelt police commanding officer Peacewell Mweemba on April 1 of this year.
He claimed that Doreen Mafwanda had reported the drowning event and that Mayuka had perished in Nampamba Lake.
“Circumstances are that, the deceased who is said to have been retrieving bodies from the lake before whenever there has been drowning cases, on April 1st ,2023 at around 12:00 hours,went into the Lake with a view of searching for the body of Jeffrey ILela who drowned in the same lake on March 31st, this year. In the process, he also drowned and is equally not retrieved,” he said.
Mr Mweemba however, said police had earlier on visited the area in respect of the earlier report involving Jeffrey ILela.
“The area Councillor for Nampamba Ward had warned members of the public from going into the Lake as it is not safe and deep and the matter was reported to the Police and the local firebridgate, but members of the public did not take his advise. Hence another life has been lost,” he said.