Toddler Dies after Falling into 15-Metre Well in Mpika

A one-year-old boy has died after falling into a 15-metre-deep well in Tazara Township, Section A, near Peads Private School in Mpika.

Mpika Town Council Public Relations Officer Mushota Mpundu says the incident happened yesterday, prompting the council’s fire brigade to respond to a distress call and retrieve the child’s body.

The child, identified as Joseph Mulenga, aged one year and eleven months, had reportedly been unwell and had just returned from Tazara Resident Clinic, where his mother had taken him for medical attention.

Mpundu says the child’s mother, 20-year-old Ezel Mwape, who works as a maid at a nearby residential home, had left the child at home before returning to work. She was later informed by pupils from Peads Private School that the child had fallen into a well at another residence some distance from their home.

She says the Zambia Police Service has instituted investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident, while the body has been deposited at Mpika Urban Clinic mortuary awaiting a postmortem examination.