adminWhinsley Masara Chronicle Reporter
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy from Kingsdale suburb in Bulawayo died after choking on an amarula fruit seed. Vusumuzi Ndlovu was eating amarula fruit with other children on Sunday afternoon when he swallowed the fruit seed.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango confirmed the incident.
“I can confirm that we received a report on the sudden death of a four-year-old boy who choked on an amarula fruit. The mother saw the fruit seed bulging on her son’s throat. They called an ambulance but the child, who couldn’t breathe, died on the way to hospital,” said Insp Simango.
A neighbour to the toddler’s parents, who preferred anonymity, said the family had recently moved to the Kingsdale house from Pumula suburb.
“I only know that they’re barely a week old in that house. Our children have been eating the amarula fruit for the past years without encountering any problems. This incident has come as a shock to all of us in the neighbourhood.
“I was sleeping in my house when I heard that Vusa was crying as he could hardly breathe because an amarula fruit seed was stuck in his throat. We didn’t know what to do,” she said.
Another neighbour who only identified himself as Moyo couldn’t say much.
“The boy’s father informed us that Vusa will be buried tomorrow,” Moyo said.
“The family is new in the area and they’ve been unfortunate to encounter such an incident. My daughter told me that he swallowed it; probably he had never before eaten the fruit and didn’t know what to do. Because of the size, it couldn’t slide through, blocking him from breathing”.
derick.khumalo