Zimbabwe: Man drowns in beer tank

  1. Posted on Wednesday 11 November 2009 - 10:36
    ronny zikhali
    Ronny Zikhali, AfricaNews reporter in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
    A young man's lust for liquor almost led to his death at a birthday party. Luckson Phiri, 25, accidentally fell into a large container full of opaque beer and lost consciousness after he had climbed to the top of the tank in an attempt to scoop beer using a bucket, because the receptacle's tap was faulty.
    beer_tap
    Phiri confirmed the incident that took place at Bulawayo’s high density suburb of Nketa. However, he said he does not remember what caused him to fall into the container.

    He narrated: “I don’t know whether I was pushed or I slipped. The only thing I remember was waking up at home the next day. My friends told me that they had to pump my stomach for me to regain consciousness but still I was too drunk to know what was going on. My mother told me that I vomited throughout the night … my throat is sore.”

    “The thing is that I climbed to the top of the tank to get beer using a bucket since the tap was not functioning properly. I managed to hoist two buckets full of alcohol then the incident occurred when I went for a third bucket,” said Phiri.

    Rescue

    According to eyewitnesses two men had to rescue Phiri. They hoisted him on their shoulders and was pulled out by a rope.

    “Climbing into the container was the easy part, removing the man was the most difficult part. Our task was made more daunting by the fact that he had lost consciousness. The tank has a stair way but we were forced to use a rope to lift the man. We tied the rope under his armpits so he was perfectly safe as we pulled him head first out of the tank,” said Webster Dube.

    Dube added: “We had to pump the beer out of him by hitting his stomach with sand. At first we used our hands to pump his stomach but it did not do much good. Then a neighbour who hails from Tsholotsho told us that sand was the best option and indeed the sand did a wonderful job. We wanted to call an ambulance after that but we then agreed that a good night sleep would do him good.”

    Although Phiri confessed to AfricaNews that it was an unpleasant incident he said he cannot stop drinking. “Anyway that incident forced my mother to plead with me to stop drinking but I won’t do such a thing. I will only stay away from alcohol for sometime but my brother I must confess I love my beer.”

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