London pupil dies during school trip to Malawi

A 17-year-old boy from Hampton, south-west London has died on a school trip to Malawi.

Malawi Police Service (MPS), who have named the boy as Eugene Enoch Kwon, said pupils from Hampton School had been snorkelling on Tuesday in Lake Malawi in Cape Maclear, Monkey Bay when he went missing.

Supt Patrick Mussa, from the Eastern Region Police Headquarters from the Malawi Police Service, said his disappearance prompted an "immediate search operation," adding: "After an extensive search, divers located him underwater."

The teenager was taken to Monkey Bay Community Hospital for treatment but was unable to be saved. His cause of death was 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."

A spokesperson for Hampton School, a private school for boys in Richmond upon Thames, confirmed that one of its students had died on the school camping trip and said: "Our thoughts, love and deepest sympathies are with the pupil's family and loved ones at this unimaginably difficult time."

They added: "At present, our focus is supporting the pupil's family and everyone affected within our school community."

It comes just a few weeks after the death of another London school pupil, this time in Wales, during a Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition (DofE).

Umar Dumbuya, 18, from London, had been hiking near Glasbury, Powys on 30 June.

Emergency services were called to the popular bathing spot following reports "a male had entered the water and could not be located".

An investigation continues into what happened, and an inquest has been opened.

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