A 17-year-old schoolboy from London has died while snorkelling on a school trip to Malawi. Malawi Police Service (MPS) said that Eugene Enoch Kwon, from Hampton School in southwest London, had been snorkelling in Lake Malawi in Cape Maclear, Monkey Bay on Tuesday when he went missing.
Search and rescue efforts
Superintendent Patrick Mussa said that the boy's disappearance prompted an "immediate search operation," and that divers located him underwater after an "extensive search." He was taken to Monkey Bay Community Hospital for treatment but died from suffocation due to drowning, police said.
Mussa added: "Police in the Eastern Region have since expressed their condolences to the bereaved family, while investigations into the incident continue."
School's response
Hampton School, a private school for boys in Richmond upon Thames, confirmed one of its students had died on the camping trip. A spokesperson for the school said: "Our thoughts, love and deepest sympathies are with the pupil's family and loved ones at this unimaginably difficult time. At present, our focus is supporting the pupil's family and everyone affected within our school community."
Recent similar tragedy
The news comes just weeks after the death of another London student, who died after entering a river in Wales during a Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition. Umar Dumbuya, 18, entered the River Wye on June 30 while on the expedition in Powys. An inquest into his death has been opened, and Leyton Sixth Form where he went to college has launched a GoFundMe to help support his loved ones.
