Divers recover drowned man after seven hours
Sharon Mathala | Thursday October 20, 2016 16:09
The man and his companion, who reported the incident, were on a fishing expedition when their boat capsized.
When a Mmegi team arrived at the dam at around 11am yesterday, the survivor was with the police giving them directions where his partner drowned.
Old Naledi police, along with the Special Support Group (SSG), went on a search for the man. The first part of the search lasted about three hours before they took a short break, waiting for assistance from the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) team.
At around 4pm the BDF team arrived and the search continued. The man’s body was retrieved from the water at around 6pm, seven hours later.
Old Naledi Police station commander, King Tshebo said that they received the report of the drowning at seven in the morning.
“We were informed that a man was suspected to have been trapped under water and the report was given to us by the other who had accompanied him,” Tshebo said.
He, however, could not give more information on the matter citing that the investigations had just begun.
“Today our main focus was recovering the body. Now that we have, we will commence investigation as to what really happened.”
Quizzed if the survivor will face any possible charges, Tshebo said: “If our investigations conclude that the men entered this private land illegally because Gaborone Dam is a private land, then the law will have to take its course.”
“Again if found that they were fishing because the fishing season in this area has been put on hold, then it means another violation,” he said.
The man’s identity was unknown at the time of going to press. His body was taken to hospital for further examination.
The last time an incident of this nature occured at the Gaborone Dam was when three Water Utilities Corporation employees drowned in 2012.