Mangochi Police Station Spokesperson, Sub Inspector Amina Tepani Daudi, who has identified the deceased as Jaffali Mussah, said the incident happened on Friday when he was trying to pull back to the shore a canoe which was being taken away by heavy winds.

“According to the deceased's employer, Adam Yusuf, on Friday, Mussah and fellow fishermen went fishing at the said beach and the deceased was left at the shore with the canoe which was tied to a rope while his friends went into the water to cast nets,” explained Tepani Daudi.

She added: “Suddenly, the canoe lost balance due to heavy winds and was being pulled into the water and Mussah tried to pull it back. Unfortunately, he was also washed away and drowned.”

Daudi said people retrieved him from the water, Police visited the scene of incident and a postmortem was conducted at Mangochi district hospital where they indicated suffocation as cause of the death.