12 Nov 2023

The body of a 12-year-old girl who drowned at Thamalakane River on Saturday afternoon has been recovered

Maun Police station commander, Superintendent Dennis Zilawe confirmed in an interview that the girl’s body was retrieved around 10am on Sunday by a team comprising Botswana Defence Force, Botswana Police scuba divas and members of the District Disaster Management Team.

The deceased who resides at Matshwane Ward is reported to be a Standard Five pupil at Kubung Primary School.

She reportedly left home with six other children for a swim at the river.

Superintendent Zilawe told BOPA in an interview that  the police received a report on Saturday evening from Maun Lodge that some children had come from the river and reported that one of them had drowned. He said the police immediately assembled a team to embark on a search.

He said since it was already late, the team stopped the search when it got dark and continued Sunday morning when they retrieved the body which was transferred to Letsholathebe Memorial Hospital.

Supt Zilawe appealed to parents to look after their children and to accompany them when they go for swimming. He said last month they registered one incident in which a fisherman lost his life after a hippo charged at and capsized a canoe in the middle of the river near Shokomokwa settlement, in the outskirts of Shorobe.

The deceased girl’s aunt, Ms Thembi Williams said they were in shock. She said the deceased left home to play with others only for the family to later receive a call from one security officer at Maun Lodge informing them that she had drowned.

She said the family rushed to the scene and those who were in her company said they were swimming in a shallow channel and a fisherman whom they found at the river requested them to come and swim where he was fishing and that was when the deceased drowned. Ends