TWO PUPILS from Kumalo Primary School drowned this afternoon in a neighbour’s swimming pool where they had gone to take a swim without supervision.
BY BENSON DUBE
Initially, three Grade Two children – a set of twins and a friend – had agreed to go for a quick swim in the neighbour’s pool. The third feared the water was too cold to swim in and did not participate.
One occupant of the house, Lucia Mandiudza, told Southern Eye news crew that she heard a splash from the pool and when peeping through the window, she saw the children taking a swim.
“I heard a sound from the pool and when I peeped through the window I saw one of the twins standing outside the pool while the other two were in the water apparently having difficulties. I know them well since they go to the same school with my little sister,” Mandiudza said.
Fred Ndoro, father of one of the deceased, said the two had been good swimmers. He suspected that the pool had just been treated with chlorine and that could have interfered with their swimming.
“I suspect the pool had been just been treated and the water not so clear, because the kids have been good swimmers,” he said.
Kumalo Primary School head Musa Dungeni, who was at the scene of the tragedy, said she was compiling a report for the Primary and Secondary Education ministry regional office concerning the incident.
