22 Oct 2017

A middle-aged man of Mosu is recuperating at Letlhakane Hospital after he went missing and was rescued by President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama and fellow villagers.

The villagers said the 45-year-old man went missing while searching for his cattle on Friday morning (October 20).  

A rescue mission was dispatched to look for the man when he did not return home the next day.

The villagers decided to request President Khama to assist with the helicopter at his disposal to compliment rescue efforts on the ground.

The President who was at his home at Mosu did not disappoint them as he took to the air twice in the morning and the third time in the afternoon the man was located and rescued.

The man had a mobile phone through which he was able to communicate with the search and rescue party.

But because he was lost and a little disoriented, the man was unable to give proper directions to the search team.

His mobile phone eventually went off after the battery ran out of power.

That was after he telephonically gave the search party names of certain land features that proved not to be accurate.

Initially he had indicated that he was around Kokonje area that is teeming with wild animals such as leopards, lions and elephants that could have endangered his life, but that proved not to be the case.

A search was conducted at another place with a similar name within the locality, but that expedition also proved futile.

The man was eventually located in the afternoon by both the ground and air search parties.

The helicopter, flown by President Khama with seven people on board, including two pilots ferried the rescued man to the clinic in Mokubilo.

He was found dehydrated, weak and could not walk.

The rescue team gave him some liquids to refresh before taking him to the clinic.

He was later transferred to Letlhakane Hospital where he was admitted .

On the whole, indications are that had the man not been found within a couple of hours, he would not have survived much longer.

The villagers’ determination to put their lives on the line to rescue one of their own  embodies the Setswana values depicted in such sayings as letsema le thata ka mong as well as  kgetsi ya tsie e kgonwa ke go tshwaraganelwa. ENDS