Police Honoured For Saving Chinese Tourists� Lives

Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Monday July 14, 2014 16:42

Superintendent Patrick Mbikiwa who was the station commander in Bobonong at the time says they rushed to Mashatu and arrived there within an hour despite the fact that it is a journey of two hours.

An elated Mbikiwa said the gesture by the Chinese embassy was welcome as it shows that someone somewhere recognizes the work the police are doing.

Bruno Paledi Assistant commissioner of Police said the bantam vans that the police are currently using have come in handy as they can traverse terrains of all kinds to enable the police to do their job. The tourists passed through Bobonong around 9pm on May 4 for a game drive at Mashatu, but the following day around 2pm, an emergency call arrived noting that the elephants had gone berserk attacking the tourists.

When the police arrived at the scene one tourist was dead, another was hiding under the car; herds of elephants had circled the car, beating the earth as they walked around the car. The other three tourists had fled into the forest.

The police sounded the siren and gradually dispersed the elephants with the cooperation of the Botswana Defence Force soldiers.

Deputy ambassador at the Chinese embassy Liang Bizhen was a thrilled diplomat at the ceremony. “The distance between Mashatu and Bobonong is two hours. But our heroes only took one and a half hours to complete this battle. They made a correct judgement on the location of the accident. They rushed there with great efficiency. They saved lives even though they were in great danger themselves”.

The deputy ambassador says she was also impressed by the fact that after the incident the police carried the body of the deceased man and stored it at the police station while the deceased’s next of kin were still being located.

The Chinese embassy also bestowed an award on Bobonong Chinese businessman, Mr Wong, who, they said played a key role in the rescue of the tourists. According to the embassy, the tourists had exchanged numbers with Wong, and when they encountered troubles with the elephants, one of them phoned him, and he in turn rushed to the police station to report the incident.