Kavango drownings expose emergency response gaps

The search for two children who allegedly drowned in the Kavango River has raised questions about whether communities living along rivers have an effective emergency-response system.

This comes after residents say the police ignored the incident on Friday and only attended to it the following day.

The children aged 15 and a Grade 1 pupil allegedly drowned at Divundu on Friday afternoon after they found a canoe and rowed into the river.

Both the Grade 1 pupil’s and 15-year old’s bodies were recovered yesterday. A third child who was with them survived.

According to a relative of the Grade 1 pupil, the canoe encountered a strong current, causing the children to panic and the boat capsized. Witnesses nearby reportedly saw them and raised alarm.

Irmina Kanyetu, an aunt of one of the deceased boys, said the police only went to the site on Saturday, alleging that the police were contacted on Friday but told the family they could not assist because it was late.

She believes an early response could have recovered the bodies immediately.

“On Sunday, they told us they had an accident somewhere and could not come. The body recovered today [Monsay] was recovered by the community. I spent the whole day at the river on Saturday and Sunday with the hope of locating him in the river,” she says.

Kanyetu says the boy left home at about 13h00 to fetch water from the river. She says he brought the container back home and went back to swim and that’s when he drowned.

She describes him as hard-working, who always helped his mother with household chores.

“He liked playing with children and playing soccer,” she says.

The family is now appealing to assist with funeral and burial arrangements, saying the boy’s parents are unemployed.

SEARCH IS DIFFICULT

Kavango East police regional commander Andreas Haingura yesterday said the police are challenged as searching for a body from a boat is difficult.

ANOTHER INCIDENT

The Divundu incident comes less than two weeks after another drowning incident was reported in Kavango East on 12 August. A man and his friend were reportedly fishing with a net from a canoe at a lake in Sauyemwa, in the Rundu district, before it capsized and threw both men into the water.

One managed to reach safety, while the other drowned, deputy commander Bonifatius Kanyetu said last week.

The incident was allegedly only reported to the police at about 22h40, several hours after it occurred.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN

The National Multi-Hazard Health Emergencies Preparedness and Response Plan launched by the Ministry of Health and Social Services last year has identified river flooding in Kavango East and Kavango West as a risk, calling it an “immediate” danger associated with flooding.

The plan says flooding carries an immediate risk of drowning and other consequences and is intended to strengthen coordination of emergency responses across national, regional, district and community levels.

The plan also provides for timely notification, detection, rapid risk assessment and the coordination and activation of an Incident Management System (IMS) during emergencies

Former Kavango East Regional Council chairperson Damian Maghambayi says drowning incidents should prompt a serious examination of Namibia’s preparedness for river emergencies.

“There is little information coming from either the authorities or media houses. Do we really have an emergency response system for river-related cases in Namibia, particularly in communities along the Kavango River?” he asks.

Maghambayi questions whether the region has rescue boats, trained divers and other equipment required for river emergencies.

He also questions how quickly specialised rescue teams can be deployed when people, particularly children, go missing in the river.

“This is not about blaming anyone. It is about asking serious questions and demanding answers. The Kavango River is part of our daily lives, and river-related emergencies are not new,” he says.

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