VICTORIA FALLS – The death of a hotel employee run over by a train in Victoria Falls is being treated as suicide.
Hilton Makanda, 38, of Mkhosana suburb in the town, was run over by a passenger train from Bulawayo after failing to heed the train’s horn.
National Railways of Zimbabwe engineman Kaliphinos Munyenyiwa told police he had a clear view of Makanda lying on the railway tracks shortly after 3PM on Saturday, at an area close to the town’s sewer ponds.
Makanda was lying across the railway line, the train driver told Victoria Falls police.
“The train engineman applied breaks and sounded the horn but the now deceased didn’t move away from the railway line resulting in the train crushing him,” says an internal police report of the incident.
“The driver managed to halt the train some metres away and Makanda’s body parts were trapped underneath the wagons. Station supervisor Clement Chirwa reported the accident to the police who retrieved the body under the wagons. Makanda was identified through an identity card and cellphone handset which was in his pocket.”
Police are working on theory that Makanda, who has worked for a local lodge for 12 years, committed suicide after a heated row with his ex-wife, Stella Chuma. The couple have been separated since last year, and quarreled recently.
Makanda’s remains were taken to the Victoria Falls Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem.
