MDF to reward brave youngman on rescue team with soldiers
Minister of defence Harry Mkandawire says a brave young man who joined Malawi Defence Force in a rescue boat in Mulanje will be recruited in the military.
Bamusi Chimthina from Mulanje, was only civilian who risked his life to go in a boat with MDF soldiers to rescue about 100 people at Nkando in Mulanje.
Bamusi was in a boat which was swept away by flooding water but he and two other soldiers managed to run to safety but two others went missing.
Initially the number of the soldiers missing was two, but one has been spotted on a branch of a tree.
Minister of local government Richard Chimwendo Banda who is leading a delegation of about five cabinet ministers who are on the ground said all the soldiers were putting life saving jackets.
Meanwhile, two girls have been washed away by floods in Makhanga, Nsanje as their father attempted to take them to safety in a canoe.
Area Civil Protection Committee member Ireen Mmenya said the girls were stuck in a tree and the father wanted to rescue them.
“Unfortunately, the canoe capsized due to strong waves and the girls have been washed away,” she said.
She further said some brave villagers are using canoes to rescue people.
Mmenya said many villagers were still in trees at Tchereni graveyard.
At Makhanga, people from nine group village heads are affected and those rescued are at Makhanga Primary School, Catholic Church and Agriculture Training Centre.
Children, girls and women were stuck in trees and rooftops at Makhanga in Nsanje District as Cyclone Freddy continues to kill people and destroy their property in the Southern Region.
Mmenya in an interview said the situation was dire and no one knows where help will come from.
Jania Scot was stuck in a tree until she saw a man in a canoe passing by who rescued her.
“For several hours, I was stuck in a tree with my children until this man saved us,” she said.
Cyclone displaces over 5000 people, destroys roads in Chikwawa.
At the meantime, cyclone Freddy has destroyed 1, 112 houses in Chikwawa comprising of 676 male-headed households and 436 female-headed households rendering 5004 people homeless.
The incessant downpour which started on Friday has also destroyed Mikalango Bridge at Misewu-folo, and the road connecting Domasi area and Kamuzu bridge.
Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) Relief Officer for the district, Humphrey Magalasi said the displaced people are staying in evacuation centres and camps.
“The people affected are from the areas of Traditional Authorities, Ngabu, Lundu, Makhuwira, Masache and Ngowe where houses are collapsing due to moisture, so far the district has recorded one death and three injuries in T/A Makhuwira,” said Magalasi.
