By Own Correspondent- Tragedy struck a Headlands family after an eleven-month-old baby drowned while while attempting to retrieve a toy.

Leshley Mawarira drowned in a 20 litre bucket while her mother, Nyaradzai Nyamariodza, (26) was doing laundry a few metres away from their homestead.

Manicaland police spokesperson Inspector Tavhiringwa Kakohwa confirmed the incident which occurred in Headlands near the Half Way House along the Mutare-Harare highway.

“On May 12 this year at around 10am, the mother of the child Nyaradzai Nyamariodza (26) left her baby playing with other kids as she went to do her laundry some 30 metres away from their house,” he said.

“Nyamariodza left three 20-litre buckets filled with water near where the kids were playing along with her baby. It was when her baby dropped the toy into one of the buckets.

“The baby then fell into the bucket head first as she was attempting to retrieve the toy from the bucket and drowned,” he said.

Insp Kakohwa said Nyamariodza found other kids trying to rescue her daughter from the bucket upon her return home.

She reportedly took her child to the hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Her husband reported the matter to the police.

In a related matter, another woman from Sereko Village under Chief Saunyama in Nyamaropa, Nyanga, returned home to find her one-year-four-month-old baby dead in a bucket full of water.

Jane Khumbula had gone to fetch water from a borehole and had left the baby playing with her three-year-old sister.

The body of the child was taken to Regina Coeli for a post-mortem.

Police also confirmed the incident.-StateMedia