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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
A year-old Bulilima toddler drowned in a 16-metre deep well after his mother left him in the company of his siblings while she was performing household chores.
The councillor of Ndolwane Ward, Ian Matiwaza said the toddler, Bafana Ncube wandered away from his siblings and fell into the well on Sunday last week around 2pm.
“There is a child from my area who drowned in a well which is at his parents’ home on Sunday around 2pm. His mother left him in the company of his two siblings aged three and five while she was working in a garden which is within the homestead.
“The toddler wandered off but his siblings didn’t realise this as they were playing. They only noticed that he had wandered off when they saw him playing at the edge of the well. They tried to call him back but he kept advancing towards the well,” said Clr Matiwaza.
He said the well was closed but they suspected that it was not closed properly as the toddler stepped on the lid and it tilted and he fell inside.
Clr Matiwaza said the toddler’s siblings called out to their mother who rushed back only to find her child in the well.
He said the woman could hear her child crying from the bottom of the 16-metre deep well but she couldn’t do anything to help him up until the cries faded away.
Clr Matiwaza said the child’s body was later retrieved by villagers. -@DubeMatutu
Online Reporter