13 bodies of drowned Zimbabweans found

13 bodies of drowned Zimbabweans found

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By Staff Reporter

A ROUTINE border patrol by South African police has uncovered a grisly find -- the decomposing bodies of 13 Zimbabweans feared to have drowned while trying to illegally enter South Africa by wading across the crocodile-infested Limpopo River.

Police said it was not immediately clear if those found were part of a larger group of 60 people, reported to have drowned in the flood waters of the Limpopo near Dite in January.

On the Zimbabwe side, a Zimbabwean police officer in the Beitbridge district told the country's state-controlled Herald: "We are working hand-in-hand with our South African counterparts to recover the bodies of those who drowned during the rainy season."

He said eight of the bodies - found when water levels dropped last week - had been identified as Zimbabweans

The five others could be Zimbabweans, Mozambicans or other nationals trying to reach South Africa via Zimbabwe.

The bodies have been taken to a mortuary in the border town of Musina.

More than 97 000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants were deported from South Africa last year.

However, thousands more continue to enter South Africa illegally in search of jobs and a better life after Zimbabwe's economy went into free fall - Sapa
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