Deka river drowning victim found 20km away eight days later

THE body of a 31-year-old man from Hwange District who was swept away after trying to drive past a flooded Deka River was discovered on Friday last week, 20km away from the scene of the tragedy.

Washington Ncube, who was from Kasase Village in Ward 9, was found in Mwemba Village in the Kakunka area under Chief Hwange, having been swept away by the river on the night of January 14 at around 8pm as he was driving back to Hwange town after dropping a passenger at Mashala Village.

Ward 10 Councillor Lethukuthula Ngwenya said Ncube’s body was discovered by a villager who was doing some errands in the bushes.

“The man’s dogs started barking while running towards the river banks and he followed them. That is when he discovered that there was a body lying face down,” said Cllr Ngwenya.

She said the body had not been mutilated but was starting to show signs of decomposition.

“He was taken to Victoria Falls Hospital for post-mortem before being buried on Saturday evening at his rural home,” said Cllr Ngwenya, before revealing that the now deceased’s twin brother and uncle had also died through drowning incidents some years ago.