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Police officers inspect the scene where two workers (covered in blankets) died in a honey sucker truck yesterday. — (Picture by Beauty Muchakazi)

Masline Mavudzi and Beauty Muchakazi
TWO people yesterday died in a suspected case of suffocation after they were trapped in a honey sucker truck while disposing of waste along Harare’s Mukuvisi River.

Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi confirmed the death of the two, a vacuum truck driver and his assistant and said they died in a suspected chemical poisoning case.

Some constituents of wastewater, especially sulphates, under the anaerobic conditions of septic tanks, are reduced to hydrogen sulphide, a pungent and toxic gas that can lead to asphyxiation.

Relatives identified the deceased as Mr Patrick Sibanda (36) of Sunningdale 2 and Mr Mathias Machingu (40) of Mbare National.

“The two died this morning (yesterday) while cleaning their honey sucker after they had disposed the sewer,” he said.

“They were cleaning the honey sucker after disposing the sewer. The assistant entered the machine and did not come out. This prompted his colleague to go in to check on his whereabouts but unfortunately also met the same fate as he also suffocated,” Chief Supt Nyathi said.

He added that a person that witnessed the incident informed police of what had happened.

“The witness checked and saw that the two were already dead, he informed a nearby policeman who contacted the fire brigade and managed to retrieve the bodies,” Chief Supt Nyathi said.

“The bodies are currently at Harare Central Hospital for postmortem and investigations are still in progress,” he said.

Onias Mufakwede, a relative to one of the deceased (Sibanda) expressed shock and sadness at his death.

“We are deeply hurt with the unexpected death. It would have been better if he had gotten sick. What hurts most is that he left a small family — two children and a pregnant wife,” he said.