Man drowns in Lotsane River

PALAPYE: Police are investigating the drowning of a 22-year-old Tumasera man in the Lotsane River on Friday evening.

The body of the deceased was recovered on Sunday morning. Palapye Police Station Commander, Superintendent Waboraro Ramaja said the deceased was an employee of a construction company in the village. He said the incident was reported to the police at 9pm on Friday.

“We were told that a man slipped into the water while trying to cross Lotsane River behind the Zion Christian Church, which was overflowing. We immediately rushed to the scene only to find that the water had dragged him. It was late in the evening, so it would have been risky to attempt a rescue at that time. We prepared to search the next day,” he said.  On Saturday morning, Palapye police officers, together with a search team of scuba divers from Gaborone and Mahalapye and personnel from the Fire Department, began a thorough search for the drowned man.   “Our search started at around 6am from the point where the deceased person reportedly drowned. We searched across the river until very late in the afternoon when it became too risky to search any further,” said Ramaja. He said the search had continued until Sunday morning when their efforts bore fruit.  “We managed to recover the body of the deceased at a point in the river where there is a waterfall known to the villagers as ‘Three’ because of its shape. It is a short distance from the point where the deceased fell,” he explained.  

Editor's Comment
Closure as pain lingers

March 28 will go down as a day that Batswana will never forget because of the accident that occurred near Mmamatlakala in Limpopo, South Africa. The tragedy affected not only the grieving families but the nation at large. Batswana throughout the process stood behind the grieving families and the governments of Botswana and South Africa need much more than a pat on the back.Last Saturday was a day when family members said their last goodbyes to...

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