Malawi canoe capsizes in Shire River: Two children feared dead
Two children from the same family are feared dead after they drowned in the Shire River when their dug-out canoe which they were travelling in capsized.
Nsanje Police Spokesperson sergeant Agnes Zalakoma confirmed the development saying three children were traveling on water using a dug-out canoe to cross the crocodile-infested Shire from Mozambique to Malawi.
“We can confirm that two young men are feared dead after the canoe they were traveling in was capsized around Traditional Authority Tengani in the district. They were three of them but one managed to swim to the offshore,” said Zalakoma.
Zalakoma said the police and well-wishers are yet to recover the bodies of the children who are feared dead as the works are in progress.
According to sources privy to the scene, the children were coming from their farming fields in Mozambique and in the process of crossing the river, their canoe was blown off by strong wing.
The children who are feared dead are Ezra 10 and Petro Clemence 14.
Shire is Malawi largest and longest river. It starts from Lake Malawi, Africa’s third largest fresh water lakes, and pours its waters into the Zambezi in Mozambique.
Incidents of crocodile attacks are not rare along the Shire but the large reptiles rarely collide with vehicular traffic plying along the river.
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