Online Reporter
Samuel Kadungure
News Editor
THE Hartzell community was plunged into deep mourning after two Early Childhood Development (ECD) learners from Hartzell Central Primary School drowned in a disused swimming pool at the school late yesterday afternoon.
The victims, one a child of a Hartzell High School teacher and the other from the local community, were retrieved from the pool around 5pm. Their bodies were taken to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital mortuary for post-mortem.
A source at the United Methodist Church-run institution confirmed the tragedy, but requested anonymity citing sensitivity of the matter and protocol restrictions.
“It is true, it is a tragedy. The old swimming pool last functioned about 25 years ago, and given the age of the victims, the entire Hartzell community is scratching for answers as to how they got into the disused swimming pool because it is always locked,” the source said.
The source added that one of the victims had visited their mother who works at the school before the incident.
“We do not know how the child sneaked out, and the next thing it was a tragedy. The police arrived when the victims had already been retrieved around 5pm. The bodies were taken to the mortuary,” said the source.
The pool, last used 25 years ago, is reportedly always locked, raising suspicions that the minors could have sneaked through a hole.
Acting Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka could neither confirm nor deny the incident.
“I am hearing it from you, and I may need to check with the police at Penhalonga Police Station, and then come back to you first thing tomorrow morning,” he said.
