Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, Victoria Falls Reporter
A MULTI-AGENCY search operation is underway on the Zambezi River after two church members were swept away at Rapid Number 5 on Saturday morning with preliminary investigations indicating that two were pastors of the Followers of Christ Church who were conducting a baptism ceremony.
They were reportedly part of a larger group of congregants who had gone for the baptism ceremony.
According to sources privy to the tragedy, the two leaders were the ones who entered the river first where they were swept away.
The search is co-ordinated by the police and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) that has mobilised significant resources to carry out the search.
The operation also involves the Rafters Association of Zimbabwe and other local tour operators, who are providing expert knowledge of the river’s volatile currents and terrain.
The combined efforts aim to cover the extensive and dangerous stretch of water where the individuals may be located. The families of the missing were notified.
Last week a 49-year-old tourist from the United States died after plunging 100 metres from the knife edge bridge at the Victoria Falls Bridge on the Zambian side. The tourist was reportedly seen consuming alcoholic beverages before he vanished, prompting officials from the hotel he was checked into to lodge a police report that initiated a search leading to the discovery of his lifeless body on a rocky section of the river.
