A 19-year-old boy who dreamed of joining the Royal Air Force has tragically drowned in a lake in Nottinghamshire. Panashe Muchenje, from Nottingham, was with two friends on a scorching hot day when he got into difficulty in Balderton Lake near Newark on May 28.
Viral video causes distress
A video of the teenager drowning has been widely circulated on social media and Zimbabwean news outlets, causing immense pain to his grieving family. They have pleaded for the footage to be taken down and for people to stop spreading harmful speculation about his death, which they say only 'added insult to injury'.
Family tribute
His nephew, Maxwell Muchenje, 56, paid a heartfelt tribute: 'He was a very energetic person, very loving. His church community loved him so much; he did a lot within the church and he was friendly. For us it was a tragic event.'
Panashe was reported to have been in the lake for 22 minutes before being rescued. Paramedics treated him and he was rushed to hospital, but he died on May 30. Police have confirmed his death is not being treated as suspicious.
Background of the victim
Panashe had moved to the area from Zimbabwe around three years ago. He was a student at Nottingham College and was in the process of applying to join the RAF. His cousin described the accident as a 'misadventure' and said no one was to blame, adding that Panashe was 'not a good swimmer' but had 'basic' skills.
Maxwell Muchenje further stated: 'The rumours and speculation on the internet have been devastating for the family, especially his parents and the other boy who was with him at the lake. He has been a victim of vile words suggesting he is to blame. If there was anything untoward, we would have heard about it by now. The video is causing a lot of harm to the people that loved Panashe. Our biggest appeal is for people to kindly be sensitive and have some sense of humanity and pull down any videos of the terrible incident, stop sharing them and report them.'
Community outrage
Nottinghamshire County Councillor for Balderton, Johno Lee, expressed shock and deep concern over the circulation of the video on platforms like Facebook and X. He said: 'This is a complete disgrace. A family has suffered the unimaginable loss of a child. The thought that grieving relatives and loved ones could be confronted with footage of those final moments appearing online is utterly unacceptable. I am calling on social media companies to get a grip of this situation and remove any such footage immediately. These platforms have both the ability and the responsibility to act quickly when harmful content is being shared.'
Panashe's funeral will be held on June 9.
