MALAWI-Three people died in Mzimba District after drowning in separate incidents over the week-end, Northern Region Police have confirmed.

Police spokespersonin the region, Norrah Chimwala disclosed this in a statement, saying the first incident occurred at Kayuni Village in the area of Traditional Authority Chindi where a 14 year-old-boy identified as Lyson Nkhata lost his life.

"The deceased went to swim at Lwanjazi River and in the process, he drowned," said Chimwala.

She said the second victim, Harold Mwale, 23 from Vulakaini Village in the area of Traditional Authority M'mbelwa in Mzimba had gone to graze cattle and just went missing.

However, he was found dead the following day with his body floating in South Rukuru River. The third victim is a three- year old girl, Madalitso Mwale from Yohane Chirwa Village in the area of Traditional Authority Kampingo Sibande.

The police spokesperson said Mwale went with her mother to a maize field but left for home along with fellow kids without the knowledge of her mother. She was found dead hours later drowning in Kasangazi River.

"Whilst there [at the maize field], the deceased and other children decided to go back [home] without the knowledge of her mum. She drowned when she failed to cross the [Kasangazi] river," explained Chimwala.

The police have ruled out any foul play into the deaths of the three victims.

According to Chimwala, postmortem conducted on all the victims pointed to suffocation as the cause of deaths and were immediately ordered to be buried.

"Postmortem was conducted and revealed that the deaths were due to suffocation. Dead bodies were ordered for burial since there was no any foul play suspected," she explained.

The latest incidents come hard on the heels of similar accidents last month in which seven children also died in two separate incidents

Four of the deceased went out to gather mangoes from neighboring village and on their way back they failed to cross a flooded river and drowned.

In the other incident, three boys lost their lives when they went to graze cattle. To while time away, they decided to swim in a river close to where they were grazing but later drowned.

Meanwhile, police have appealed to the public to take precautions during this rainy season so that incidents of this nature are reduced.

Source: AllAfrica