A clinical officer at Mambilima Mission Hospital in Mwense has drowned on Luapula River while swimming with a nurse. Luapula Province Commissioner of Police Elias Chushi said Samson Phiri was swimming with Charity Musonda, who was rescued by their two other friends who sat on a rock. Mr Chushi said in an interview yesterday that Mr Phiri drowned on Saturday around 15:00 hours.

He said Joseph Nyirenda, 29, a radiography technologist at the hospital, and Mwango Chimundu, 32, a nurse at the health facility, tried to rescue their colleagues but only managed to save their female friend. “A health practitioner at Mambilima Mission Hospital in Mwense drowned while he was swimming with his friend, who was also swept by a strong current but was rescued,” Mr Chushi said. He said Mr Phiri’s body has not yet been retrieved and that the search for it has continued.