Boy, 9, accidentally hangs self

A nine-year-old boy from Lobengula West suburb in Bulawayo accidentally hanged himself with a rope tied to a mango tree which they were using as a swing with his siblings.

Bulawayo Police Spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube confirmed the incident which took place on Thursday morning.

"We confirm that the police attended the incident, he was 9 years-old doing grade 4 at Mawaba Primary School," said Inspector Ncube.

He said the three siblings were playing in the yard without adult supervision when the incident happened.

"It looks like these children were left alone, the other one is 14 years old while the other one was six years old; they were playing outside in a swing that was tied to a mango tree just inside their yard.

"The 14-year-old together with the six-year-old left the nine-year-old playing outside while they went to watch television inside the house, when they came back outside, they found him hanging on a nylon rope that was also tied to the mango tree," said Inspector Ncube.

The police spokesperson urged parents to ensure their children`s play areas are safe.

"We would like to urge parents to be cautious, children swing in trees and they tie different ropes, they should remove them and not let them stay there because those are part of dangerous games that children play.

"If children find anything to climb, they just do that, we wouldn't think it was intentional when he died, he didn't even know what he was doing," said Inspector Ncube.