A 12-year-old boy tragically lost his life by drowning while swimming in a pool in Warren Park on Tuesday.

Warren Park residents said the boy’s death was the second drowning in six months.

The boy, Yusof Chikepe, a Grade 7 pupil, was in the company of four other pupils when he drowned.

Family spokesperson, Nyembesi Chikepe, said the family lost a talented boy who was brilliant in school. She said:

We have lost a brilliant boy. He had a love for agriculture and was brilliant in school.

Residents who came to the scene of the tragedy appealed to the Harare City Council to close the pits. Said one resident:

We have been calling for the closing of the pits for some time but it has all been in vain.

We are losing young lives in circumstances that can be avoided.

This is the second incident within six months and it’s so disheartening.

We monitor our children asi vana vanonzvenga voenda ikoko (but the kids slip away and go to the pool).

-H-Metro