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Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau

Two men from Mtetengwe area some 30km west of Beitbridge town drown on Sunday afternoon while swimming at Muengedzi River.

The incident occured at aroung 3pm when the two men were swimming after attending another funeral in the area.

Relatives of the deceased and other villagers teamed up to retrieve the bodies some 500 metres from the drowning point.

The now deceased have been identified as Themba Muleya and Patson Mdau all in their mid 30s.

A cousin to Muleya, Mr Narshel Ndlovu said the men were trapped in the river for three hours before they were retrieved.

” I am at loss of words. We had just attended a funeral together when they decided to go swimming at the river. Unfortunately the water in there were rains up stream and the river was swollen and they drowned,”he said.

District civil protection unit chairperson Mrs Kiliboni Ndou Mbedzi said it was the first incident since start of rainy season.

“This is a very  unfortunate incident and the first since rainy season. We have been sending teams on the ground toraise awareness on issues of drowning and flooding around the district,” she  said.

She urged members of the public to avoid crossing flooded rivers or entering water bodies to avoid uneccesary loss of lives.

Ward 6 councillor Mr Joseph Muleya said it was a black weekend for the Mtetengwe community.

” Our hearts are heavy with sorrow. Today we buried another man who died during an accident in the town,”said Clr Muleya.

The other man who was buried earlier in the day was run over by a waste collection vehicle at Beitbridge Municipality on Thursday morning.