5 die, 12 missing asboat sinks in Mchinji
F
ive people have died while 12 others are still missing after a boat they were travelling in sank in Lusa River in Mchinji District.
The accident happened on Wednesday when people from traditional authorities (T/As) Mkanda and Gumba were travelling to a funeral to Chinyonga Village in T/A Dambe.
A survivor Chrissy Govati, from Ngulukira Village in T/A Gumba, speaking from her hospital bed at Kapiri Mission Hospital, said the boat sank in the middle of the river.
“Other passengers drowned, but I tried hard to stay afloat. It was when I had given up hope when a well-wisher came to my rescue,” she said.
According to a witness Mercy Chechibisa from Chisamba Village in T/A Gumba, the boat sank purportedly because it could not take the weight of 22 people and their belongings.
“The boat is meant to take 10 people, but this time it carried twice its capacity and when some passengers complained about the overloading, the owner of the boat dismissed them,” she said.
Chechibisa also said initially, the son of the boat’s owner was rowing it and when he got tired his father took over from him in transit.
After getting the news about the accident, Mchinji district commissioner Fred Movete and the district civil protection committee members rushed to the scene.
Movete said 19 of those who were on board were adults while three were children.
“Five people were rescued and the accident was reported to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs which invited the Malawi Defence Force [MDF] Marine Department from Monkey Bay to help search the missing people,” he said.
By early yesterday, the MDF marine rescue team had already arrived at the scene. The five survivors were rushed to Kapiri Mission Hospital and Mkanda Health Centre where they were admitted.
