A tragic incident has left the Chivi community in Masvingo Province mourning after a 19-year-old man reportedly died by suicide hours after receiving news that his close friend had been killed in a road accident.
Masvingo Provincial Police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dehwa confirmed the two incidents.
The first accident occurred at around 11am along the Ngundu–Tanganda Road.
Police said 18-year-old Bright Charare, from Bhusvumani Village under Chief Dare in Chivi, was cycling towards Chiredzi when he was struck by a Toyota Allion traveling in the same direction.
The cyclist was reportedly hit by the vehicle’s front-left corner lamp near the 8km peg. He fell onto the road and sustained serious head injuries and fractures to both legs.
Charare, a Form Four student at Shongamiti High School, was taken to Ngundu Clinic, where he was pronounced dead.
Later that evening, 19-year-old Exodus Muteiwa, from Chipeta Village under Chief Gororo in Chivi, reportedly received news of his friend’s death at around 6pm.
Muteiwa was working as a herd boy at Rossal Farm in Chatsworth, Gutu, where he was employed by Felistas Ndika.
At about 7pm, he reportedly told his employer’s daughter that he wanted to visit his girlfriend, but the request was opposed by his employer.
When his employer checked his room around 8:30pm, Muteiwa was reportedly no longer there.
A search for him continued throughout the night and into the following morning.
At around 1pm on August 10, villagers reportedly discovered his body hanging from a branch of a Mutondo tree, with a rope around his neck.
Police were alerted, and the body was subsequently taken to Gutu Mission Hospital for a post-mortem examination.