RIVER TRAGEDY

 

It was a sombre day in Shashe ward, Maun, this past weekend as mourners gathered for the burial of 14-year-old Kago Billy Thiwanapo, who tragically drowned in the Okavango River late last month.

Kago, who was a Form 1 student at Tshwaragano Junior Secondary School, died together with another youngster, an 11-year-old primary school pupil at Moremi Primary School.

The younger child’s body was discovered in an advanced state of decomposition and was laid to rest on the same day that he was recovered from the water.

At the funeral, multitudes gathered to pay their last respects to the Thiwanapo family and to console them in their grief.

Speakers revealed that the boys had drowned while attempting to cross the river in search of the family’s livestock.

According to relatives, crossing the river was not unusual for them; the boys were used to navigating it with ease using a canoe.

However, on that fateful day, the canoe was not available, and they braved the deep waters, underestimating its strength and depth, only to meet their maker.

The boys reportedly went missing for two to three days before their bodies were finally retrieved.

The recovery operation involved an intensive search by scuba divers from both the Botswana Police Service and the Botswana Defence Force, with the bodies being discovered a day apart.

The funeral was marked by deep sorrow; close relatives described the 14-year-old’s mother as grief-stricken, devastated by the unbearable pain of losing her son at such a tender age.

Students from Tshwaragano Junior Secondary School also attended the funeral, and many of them were overcome with grief as they watched the body of their classmate being lowered into the ground.

Speaking to The Midweek Sun this week, Shakawe Station Commander Ogolotse Tampa clarified reports that an older man had been with the children during the incident.

He dismissed the allegations, stating that police were not pursuing any individual in connection with the tragedy.

“The information we have is that only the children attempted to cross the river. There is no name that we are searching for,” the station commander said.

Rumours had circulated that a man accompanied the children and allegedly tried to help them swim across, abandoning them when the waters became overwhelming.