What a waste of life! Sparky Rasilalume (15) of Maniini, near Thohoyandou, was a Grade 7 learner at Tshiluvhi Primary School and he was full of dreams about the future, just like his peers.

Unfortunately, his dreams were crushed when he drowned under mysterious circumstances at the local tributary on Wednesday last week.

As usual, Sparky went to the river to swim, not knowing that it would lead to the end of his precious life. Accompanied by a friend, the swimming experience turned into a nightmare when the water swallowed the young boy. His friend tried to save his life but the water was too deep and dirty. He then decided to run to the settlement to attract the attention of fellow community members.

It took more than three hours for emergency workers and the police to retrieve his body, which was trapped the by heavy mud under the dirty water. Mr Leonard Tshivhase, the divisional officer of MG Ramushwana Fire Station, who led the emergency team during the incident, said it was difficult to retrieve the body because the pool was full of grass and thorns and the water was muddy.

"We received a message at about 14:50 that a boy had drowned at Maniini. I then sent a team of three members to go and do the job at the scene. After they had not come back for a long time, I decided to go to the scene to see what was causing their delay."

Tshivhase said this was one of the most difficult situations for his team. "We could not even see in the water because it was dirty. The pool was also full of mud and wood. That did not dampen our spirit and we continued the search until retrieved him approximately two metres below the water. Thanks to my dedicated staff members. I believe they did the job well because they received training on scuba diving earlier this year."

Capt Mashudu Malelo said police were conducting an inquest, following the incident. He appealed to children not play alongside river banks or to swim without the supervision of older people, to avoid incidents of this nature in future.