Empangeni drown victim passes away

Christmas was a devastating time for one local family whose son sadly succumbed to spinal injuries a month after drowning at Empangeni swimming pool.

Lindokuhle Biyela (20) sustained a neck injury when he collided with the back of another bather in November, and lay motionless in his Ngwelezana Hospital bed since the incident.

He succumbed to his injuries two weeks ago.

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According to his brother Xolani Mthethwa, the hospital could do nothing to save him, but said they kept him sedated and on life support and promised to send him for surgery.

“We then received a call from Ngwelezana telling us the government had not paid for his surgery procedure as he had a broken neck.

“Through our interactions with the hospital, they did not bring us any hope, at one stage telling us he would not make it as his brain was severely damaged,” said Mthethwa.

He further said the family was disturbed at the hospital’s request to have his organs donated, which he said they respectfully declined.

The Department of Health was contacted for comment but none was forthcoming at the time of going to print.

Biyela was the second drown victim at the Empangeni municipal pool at the start of summer, after a teenage boy from Dumisani Makhaye Village also drowned in November.

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