A 10 year old boy identified as Andrew Tsokalawo on Sunday died after drowning in Mwela dam at Chitipi in Lilongwe while coming back from a maize mill.

“The deceased was coming from the maize mill with his friends of his age and upon reaching the dam which is 300 meters away from their homes, they started swimming.

“Unfortunately, the deceased went to the deeper area of the dam where he got stuck in the mud and drowned,” explained Kingsley Dandaula.

He said his friends failed to rescue him because they were of the same age of the deceased.

The matter was reported to Chitipi police by a 35 year old mother of the deceased Beatrice Tsokalawo.

Police officers visited the scene and took the remains to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) for postmortem.

Dandaula said postmortem results certified that death was due to suffocation.

Police has therefore urged parents to advise their children not to go swimming if they do not know how to swim.