Mangochi Police Deputy Public Relations Officer, Sub Inspector Amina Tepani Daudi, who has identified the deceased as Chitonga Saidi, said the incident happened as the deceased was trying to cross the small bridge on the river that was swelled.

“Chitonga slipped off and fell into the river when he was trying to cross the bridge whilst pushing his bicycle. He was on his way back from Lungwena Trading Center where he went to sell firewood,” said Tepani Daudi in a statement.

She said Well-wishers organized themselves and managed to rescue him and rushed to Lungwena Health Centre but it was late as he was pronounced dead upon arrival at the facility.

Postmortem conducted by the medical practitioner at the same hospital revealed that death was due to suffocation, according to the Tepani Daudi.

Chitonga Saidi was from Kalanje village in the area of Traditional Authority Chowe in the same district.

For the past days, the district has been experiencing heavy rains as weather experts also predicted that other parts of the country will receive continuous heavy downpour.