I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS, SAYS CAPTAIN RAMBO, AS HE BREAKS DOWN AFTER RETRIEVING THREE BODIES FROM BUDIRIRO POOL OF DEATH

Latwell Nyangu

FOR eighteen years, Victor Kazembe, popularly known as ‘Coach Rambo’, has been retrieving bodies.

But, he has never seen anything like what confronted him when he dived into a sewage-filled pool in Budiriro 3.

He retrieved three bodies at once in an operation that started on Sunday night and spilled into the early hours of yesterday.

In the end, he broke down as he narrated how he executed this difficult recovery mission.

The Harare-based diver has become one of the country’s most trusted underwater recovery specialists.

A qualified scuba diver, swimming instructor and lifesaver, he has spent years responding to such emergencies, searching rivers, dams and ponds when victims vanish beneath the surface.

His courage, professionalism and dedication have earned him admiration across Zimbabwe, with many describing him as a hero.

But his latest mission was too much to bear even for a veteran like him.

“This incident is sad, it’s painful. Death yacho inorwadza, this is not water but this is mud,” he said.

“To die in mud is painful.

“This is an incident, it is a mystery, chaita chishamiso, since I started life-saving in 2008, this one is mysterious.

“Chishamiso chihombe chaitika, tauya takatarisira kuti tikuda kubuditsa munhu one, murume, asi chazoitika ndofunga mangozvionera.

“When I got into the mud, I had hope to bring a man wearing a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt, as it was explained, but it didn’t come out as expected.”

Coach Rambo said that, as professional divers, they are not recommended to enter muddy pools but he took a sacrifice.

“As divers, we are not recommended to dive in mud, we enter the waters, this is not water but sewage.

“Saka kupinda kwandanga ndichiita umu, tank ndanga ndinaro just in case of emergency, so that it would help me to breathe in case I suffocate.

“But in the mud, it’s difficult to breathe.

“This was a sacrifice so that the spirits of these people rest in peace.

“Zvaita kuti tizosvike pamunhu watanga tichida kuona, because sometimes kana vamwe vanhu vane bond vanoita bond spiritually kuti kana vachienda vanoenda vese.

“So umwe atanga kuenda, kubva asheedza umwe, the reason why tatanga kuona musikana uyu it was because, if we had seen the man first, I was not going to stop, ndaingotora mukomana then I leave.

“Murume wamurukuona, mukazonzwa kana hama dzake ndinovimba murume uyu haana kana one day kana ma hours awira umu, maybe two days, hama dzake dzichapupura asi ma symptoms arikuratidza kuti munhu uyu agarisa mumvura.

“Maomera aaita akasiyana nevaviri ava, vaviri ava varatidza kuti vawira nhasi asi ndongoti kune hama dzevanhu vataburitsa, tine hurombo rufu rwunorwadza, may their soul rest in eternal pace.”

He added:

“Since 2008, as a life rescuer, I have realised that if a missing person is not seen, their spirit continues to haunt others, inoramba ichingonetsa ichisheedza vamwe.

“Like in this case, in Budiriro, the first person to drown akatosheedza vamwe.

“This incident, kana ichitaurwa kudai inoita kunge easy, we don’t know how it happened, but when we came, we wanted to rescue the man who drowned first.

“He was in the company of his friends, and he drowned while passing through.”

He added:

“When I got to the scene, I saw it was a difficult scene since it was sewage. It was heavy for me but I was just praying so that I would do the job.

“I believe in God and in everything I do, I seek the Kingdom of God. So, after I prayed, I then promised to do the job.

“I assured people who were around but I had to do research on the premises.

“I sacrificed for my first attempt.”

Coach Rambo has done everything – from training youngsters to swim, saving people from near-drowning situations, to retrieving bodies from the floors of pools.

He rides his bicycle straight into the notorious Pool of Death in Epworth, hits the water in a riding position before disembarking and swimming to the surface.

His inspiration, he said, was from American Hollywood Star, Sylvester Stallone.

Rambo started his romance with water in an equally dangerous spot – the Kambuzuma Pool of Death.