Police spokesman Sergeant Christopher Munyika yesterday said an inquest docket had been opened.

The drowning victim, Theodore 'Antonius' Nekuta (36), was employed by Grinaker-LTA (Namibia). The tragedy was confirmed by his employer and his widow, Susanna.

Nekuta, who did not know how to swim, lost his life at around 13h00 shortly after he and another employee tried to swim in a pond that is five metres deep.

At the time the two were laying pipes to pump water from one pond to another.

Etiene Lombaard, Grinaker's site manager at Ramatex, confirmed the drowning.

Lombaard said the two went into the pond, measuring 30 m by 40 m, shortly after they completed the first part of their shift.

He said the other employee "nearly drowned" and had to be rescued.
Grinaker-LTA has promised to underwrite the funeral bills for the Nekuta family.

Nekuta was employed as a pipelaying leader by Grinaker.
He was his family's sole breadwinner. Apart from his widow, Susanna, he is survived by four daughters and three sons. His youngest child, Rosalia, is a year and seven months.

Nekuta's family lives in a corrugated iron sheet structure at an informal settlement near Okuryangava in Katutura.

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