Sub-aqua diver Victor Kazembe, known as Coach Rambo, who risked his life by descending into a sewer-filled trench in Budiriro, Harare, on Sunday night, said the operation was the most mysterious and disturbing of his 16-year career.
Kazembe was called to recover what rescuers believed was one drowning victim. When he went down into the foul-smelling mud, he retrieved three bodies.
A seasoned diver who has taken part in numerous recovery missions since 2008, Kazembe said the Budiriro operation was unlike anything he had encountered before.
“It is painful to lose loved ones through this kind of death. Drowning in a sewer is heartbreaking,” Kazembe said.
“Since 2008, this is the first mystery I have encountered. We were looking for a man who had reportedly fallen into the trench.
“I expected to retrieve a man wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but what we found was completely different.”
Unlike conventional water rescues, the trench was filled with thick sewer sludge, making the dive extremely dangerous.
Kazembe said standard diving procedures do not allow operations in mud because oxygen systems can fail.
“We do not normally dive in mud because it is dangerous and oxygen tanks do not function properly in those conditions,” Kazembe said.
“I went down carrying an oxygen tank only for emergencies. It was a sacrifice so that these souls could finally rest in peace,” he said.
Emergency services were called after reports that a man had fallen into the trench while trying to cross the area on Sunday evening.
Witnesses said the excavation had been left open for months after contractors dug up the site in February.
Residents said they tried to help the man but could not, because the trench was full of thick sewer sludge, and he was unable to hold onto the branch they used to try to pull him out.
Police were alerted first, followed by the Harare Fire Brigade, but neither could retrieve the victim from the sewer-filled pit.
The situation changed when Kazembe and the sub-aqua rescue team arrived.
The first body recovered was not the man they were looking for, but a young woman believed to have gone missing the day before.
Kazembe went back down and recovered a second body, again not the reported victim.
It was only on his third descent, shortly before dawn, that he recovered the body of the man whose fall had prompted the rescue.
One of the bodies appeared to have been trapped beneath the sludge for several days, raising further questions about the circumstances of the deaths.
Kazembe said he remains puzzled by how he managed to locate the additional victims.
“If I had found the body we were looking for first, I would have retrieved it and come out, leaving the other two beneath the trench,” he said.
“Their souls led me to the other bodies. If it were not for that, I would not have encountered them.”
The tragedy has shocked Zimbabwe and renewed scrutiny of safety standards at municipal infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, Wicknell Chivayo has awarded Victor Kazembe a Toyota Aqua and US$20,000 in cash, to be collected on Saturday, in recognition of his efforts.
More: NewZimbabwe.com
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