A Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier based at Marine, Gerald Chiwaya aged 28, died yesterday at Monkey Bay after drowning.

Monkey Bay Police Station Publicist Sergeant Alice Sichali said Chiwaya and his colleagues went to Venice Beach on Lake Malawi to swim.

She added that as they were swimming, Chiwaya drowned in the water and his friends rushed to rescue him.

“His friends rushed to him and he was later taken to Monkey Bay Community Hospital were he was pronounced dead,” she explained.

The publicist said that medical results from the hospital displayed that he died due to suffocation.

Chiwaya came from Chiteze Village Traditional Authority M’bwatalika in Lilongwe district.