Authorities in Namibia are investigating the tragic deaths of four children who suffocated while playing in an abandoned deep freezer in the Zambezi Region. The children, aged between three and six, were discovered trapped in the unused freezer in Katima Mulilo, a densely populated town in the northeast of the country, on Monday afternoon.
Initial reports suggest the children were accidentally locked inside the freezer while playing, leading to their suffocation. Two of the children were found dead inside the freezer, while the other two passed away at the hospital after being rushed for emergency treatment.
One of the grieving fathers, Aranges Shoro, recounted the heartbreaking moment to The Namibian newspaper, saying, “When I came in, I saw paramedics attending to my daughter and another girl. They rushed them to the hospital, while the other two were loaded into police mortuary vehicles.”
Zambezi Regional Police Commander Andreas Shilelo explained that the freezer had a hook that could only be opened from the outside, leaving the children trapped inside for about an hour and a half. “They suffocated,” he confirmed.
The two children who were rushed to Katima Mulilo State Hospital were pronounced dead on arrival, according to Namibia’s public broadcaster NBC.
It remains unclear why the non-functional freezer had been left outside one of the families’ homes, raising questions about its accessibility. Investigations are ongoing as authorities try to piece together the full details of the incident.
