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Crime Reporter
TWO poachers drowned in Darwendale Dam after their canoe capsized around 2am on Sunday.

Police were yesterday still searching for the bodies.

“We can confirm that two men drowned at Darwendale Dam on March 1, 2020 at around 0200hrs while they were fishing. The men who were in a canoe, were last heard screaming for help by another fishing party who were about 100 metres away,” said National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi.

Last month, police retrieved bodies of two people who drowned after their boat capsized in Lake Kariba.

The bodies of Kudzanai Dewa (32), a serving member of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Charles Kahara (36), an officer with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) met their fate between Kariba Lake Harvest bream cages and Nyaodza Fishing Camp.

Strong winds caused the boat which had four people to capsize and everyone temporarily managed to hang onto the boat, but Dewa later complained of being tired before letting go.

In a bid to help her, Kahara followed. but was allegedly pulled down by a panicking Dewa.

The other two were rescued about four hours later, by another crew that passed through on their way to the fishing camps.

The incident came barely two weeks after two Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority rangers drowned in the same lake following a scuffle with suspected Zambian poachers.

In 2008, two poachers drowned in Darwendale Dam after slipping off an inflated tube while fishing.

Jason Chitera (40) and an unidentified colleague were poaching fish when the incident occurred at around 10am.