Two men drown while searching for a dead hippo
Police divers were called in to the farm the following morning to search for the bodies but they couldn’t because the dam is believed to be filled with crocodiles.
The bodies of two men who disappeared while searching for an allegedly dead hippo a week ago were discovered near a dam in Barberton.
The deceased, 28-year old Emmanuel Mthabini of Lulekani Village in Tzaneen and his co-worker Joseph Mohando (44) from Burundi, were last seen by their boss and the owner of the estate at Kismere Estate on June 25.
It is alleged that they were asked by their boss, who is professional hunter, to use a small boat to search for a hippo which he had allegedly gunned down in the dam earlier that day. This comes after the hippo’s tendencies to devour sugar cane in the estate.
It is further said while the two were busy searching in the middle of the dam around 19:30, the hunter and the owner saw an animal which they couldn’t clearly make out if it was a hippo or crocodile capsizing the boat. That was the last time they saw the two.
Capt Jabu Ndubane, spokesperson for the Pienaar Cluster police, said police divers were called in to the farm the following morning to search for the bodies but they couldn’t because the dam is believed to be filled with crocodiles.
On June 26 one crocodile was shot and cut open but the missing men were not found.
It was only on July 2 that the search party, including the police air wing unit, retrieved one of the decomposed bodies found floating in the dam. The second body was retrieved on Tuesday.
Police are investigating a murder inquest.
