ANOTHER ARMY RECRUIT COLLAPSES, DIES WHILE IN TRAINING

MANZINI - Another army recruit has died after collapsing during training.

In fact, four recruits collapsed last Thursday while undergoing training at the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) Infantry School at Mbuluzi, with one being confirmed dead. The incident took place in the afternoon last Thursday, which was less than 48 hours after KaDlovunga Royal Kraal Chief Makhahleleka (Sicelo Dlamini) died while being rushed to hospital from the army infantry school, where he was undergoing the vigorous military training. According to a source close to the matter, on Thursday afternoon, the training instructors at the military infantry school informed the recruits that their lunch time was approaching. He said as usual, the instructors ordered them to run for an undisclosed distance and return to have their lunch.

Recruits

He said as per the norm, the army recruits fastened their sneakers and ran the distance with the excitement that they would return for their lunch. He said the recruits made a U-turn at the turning point, but on their way back, four of them collapsed on different intervals. At that time, he said those who were leading the race were already at the UEDF Infantry School, having their lunch. According to the source, what was seemingly strange was that after collapsing, the recruits would start jerking in an uncontrollable manner, with foam coming out of their mouths. He said the other recruits who witnessed the incident notified their instructors about it and an ambulance from the military infantry school was called to ferry them to hospital.
“One of them – a male – is believed to have died on the spot,” the source said.

He explained that the army ambulance rushed the quartet to Dvokolwako Health Centre, where the recruit was certified dead upon arrival, while the trio was attended to by a team of medical practitioners at the health facility. He said the trio was later discharged and they were taken back to the army infantry school, where they are expected to continue with the ongoing training. The UEDF Public Affairs Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo, confirmed the matter. She said the training battalion had forwarded to her office a not so detailed report to the effect of another recruit had passed on. “Unfortunately, details of the cause of death are outside the ambit of the office of the public affairs. It is patient/doctor confidentiality,” the military’s public affairs officer said. By the time of compiling this report, information regarding the deceased army recruit was scanty, but it was gathered that he was from KaKhuphuka, a chiefdom which is under Mkhiweni Inkhundla in the Manzini Region.

Inquiry

An inquiry which was carried out by this publication suggests that just like the chief (army recruit), who died on Wednesday morning, the deceased recruit was among the group of recruits who arrived recently at the military infantry school. Again, one of the sources who assisted this publication in its inquiries purported that the army recruits who were recruited from the 59 constituencies were doing fine because their bodies were in good shape in terms of fitness as they had even passed the physical tests during the army recruitment exercise. On top of that, he said their overall health was also checked as they passed the medical check-ups at the military clinic at Phocweni Army Barracks.

On the other hand, he said the challenge that was faced by the training instructors with the army recruits who were not recruited from the constituencies was that some of them were not phys

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