Two men drown while searching for dead hippo

The bodies of two men who disappeared while searching for an alleged dead hippo a week ago have been discovered near a dam in Barberton, Mpumalanga, reports Mpumalanga News.

The deceased, 28-year old Emmanuel Mthabini of Lulekani village in Tzaneen, Limpopo, 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.

READ MORE: Crocodiles kill elderly woman, boy in Limpopo

It is alleged they were asked by their boss, who is professional hunter, to use a small boat to search for a hippo that he had allegedly gunned down in the dam earlier that day. This comes after the hippo’s tendencies to devour sugarcane on the estate.

While the two were busy searching in the middle of the dam at about 7.30pm, the hunter and the owner allegedly saw an animal, which they say could have been a hippo or a crocodile, capsizing the boat. That was the last time they saw the two.

Captain 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 were unable to 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.

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