NUST student ‘SDA church youth’ drowns while helping girlfriend in Zambezi river

BINGA: A Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) youth drowned in the Zambezi River near Binga during a church youth camp, allegedly while trying to save his girl- friend. Muzi Tshuma (22), a second-year student at NUST university, drowned while swimming with a group of youths on Wednesday.

A source at the camp said church leaders had warned the youths not to get into the water but Tshuma and some friends decided to go for a swim.

“He went into the water trying to save his girlfriend (name withheld) who appeared to be drowning. The girl survived but he went under. The police sub-aqua unit was only able to retrieve the body today after almost 24 hours,” said the source.

The youths are in Binga for a week-long annual conference which kicked off last Sunday.

“We had been divided into several groups which all set out to different places to do different recreational activities. Others went for a boat cruise and hiking.

“Other youths, who witnessed the drowning, had to be attended to by nurses and counsellors to calm them down as they experienced panic attacks,” said the source.

Binga District Administrator Mrs Lydia Ndethi-Banda said the body had been retrieved at around 1pm by a sub-aqua team that arrived in the district on Wednesday night.

“The SDA youths are camped at Binga High School. He (Tshuma) was swimming with his friends when he drowned and the body has just been retrieved,” said Mrs Ndethi-Banda yesterday afternoon.