What started off as a romantic rendezvous turned tragic when a South African haulage truck driver mysteriously died soon after being intimate with a woman believed to be a commercial sex worker in Beitbridge town in Zimbabwe.

In confirming the incident to Mirror, the Zimbabwean police spokesman for Matabeleland South Province, Inspector Tafanana Dzirutwe, said the South African trucker died on last Tuesday (17 October) at around 02:00 inside his truck, following a tryst.

The two were in a truck that was parked at Biltrans Truck Inn at the Industrial site in the Zimbabwean border town. The truck was coming from South Africa and was destined for Zambia. However, the driver had apparently made a stopover in Beitbridge.

"I can confirm that the South African truck driver died inside his truck soon after being intimate with a woman in Beitbridge where he had made a stopover," Dzirutwe said.

The "girlfriend" went and reported the matter to the police who then took the body to the Beitbridge District Hospital mortuary for a post mortem

Dzirutwe said police have since launched a probe into the incident.

He said preliminary investigations revealed that the truck driver had had an erection problem and, prior to intimacy, he had used a vibrator (sexual stimulation device) to stir up an erection.

"We have since started investigating the incident so that we can really establish the exact circumstances surrounding this mysterious death and this woman is also assisting us with investigations," he said.

Dzirutwe withheld the name of the deceased, however, citing diplomatic reasons. "We cannot release the name of the deceased until we are cleared by the South African Embassy in Harare and I am afraid that (clearance) process normally takes several weeks to be completed," he said.