The body of the 27-year-old Matias Lukas Shilingweni, who was seen jumping off the old jetty, one of Namibia’s most iconic landmarks in Swakopmund on 5 September, was retrieved from the sea nine days later.
Members of a private sea rescue outfit were called to the scene and they used kayaks to row out to where the deceased person’s body was floating in the swells of the mole.
According to a report provided by Chief Inspector Ileni Shapumba, the head of the community affairs division of the police in the Erongo region, visitors to the mole spotted Shilingweni’s body floating in the sea at approximately 12h50 on Saturday afternoon.
Nine days ago, the Jetty Restaurant staff members reported to investigating officers that a man unknown to them jumped off the jetty in the darkness and disappeared beneath the waves soon after.
At the time, the missing person’s brother, who was also called to the scene, told investigators they lived in the same house in the DRC informal settlement on the outskirts of Swakopmund.
“It is suspected that the missing person jumped off the jetty to commit suicide,” Shapumba said at the time.
Ever since Shilingweni’s disappearance, members of the public have been keeping a keen watch on the beaches of Swakopmund in the event of the body washing ashore. Their vigilance paid off when his remains were seen floating in the sea in the mole on Saturday.
Shapumba said in his report that his brother positively identified Shilingweni.
He indicated that in the meantime, a postmortem examination would be performed to determine the exact cause of Shilingweni’s death.
