TANZANIA has sympathised with South Africa over the untimely death of Gugu Zulu but dismissed blames directed to the country as baseless. Natural Resources and Tourism Minister Professor Jumanne Maghembe, in his communiqué, said he was astonished by an article that Jovial Rantao wrote on the African Independent about Zulu’s death, saying all necessary efforts were taken to save his life but God had loved him more.
The race driver died while trying to
summit Mount Kilimanjaro after complaining about an itchy throat a few
days before the summit could begin.
“We share the grief and pain on the loss
of this young life and pray to Almighty God to receive Gugu’s soul...
as Tanzanians we send our deepest condolences to South Africa. We loved
him but God loved him more,” said Professor Maghembe.
The minister said there was no point
blaming the death on Tanzania, explaining that the late Zulu entered
Marangu Gate to climb Mount Kilimanjaro on July 14, 2016 as part of
Trek- 4Mandela Team 2016 accompanied by his wife.
“On that day, they climbed to Mandara
hut at 2,700 metres above sea level in the evening. The team rested over
night and in the morning of July 15, 2016 started the climb towards the
Horombo Hut at 3,700 metres above sea level,” he said.
Professor Maghembe unveiled that the
team decided to spend the night at Horombo to acclimatize their bodies
to the very difficult conditions as they prepared to go to higher
altitudes. The team left Horombo Hut for Kibo Hut in the morning of July
17 having their bodies rested and better prepared to move to upper
areas of the mountain.
However, said the minister, Mr Zulu and
other five climbers could not cope with the tough condition at the high
altitude and they got sick. “At this point let me explain briefly what
happens in high altitude.
The temperature in the air goes down
drastically as you go higher into the mountains. In Kilimanjaro the mean
air temperature at the Marangu gate (1,900masl) is 18 degrees
centigrade compared to eight degrees centigrade at Horombo Hut
(3,700masl) and five degrees at Uhuru Peak (5,893 masl).
“Parallel with this change in
temperature, the amount of oxygen in the air we breathe becomes smaller
as one goes into higher altitudes. At the entry point in Marangu Gate
what is called the oxygen partial pressure is about 20 per cent.
The oxygen partial pressure in the air
goes down to less than 10 per cent at Uhuru Peak,” he described. Mr
Maghembe noted that the biggest challenge is the altitudinal change in
the amount of oxygen available to breath into lungs when climbing Mount
Kilimanjaro.
That is the cause of many acute higher
mountain sickness, cerebral edema and pulmonary edema. The last
condition has symptoms of shortness in breath, suffocation at night,
fatigue, body weakness and persistent cough associated with watery fluid
oozing from the mouth.
“Unfortunately Gugu Zulu and five other
climbers arrived at the Uhuru Hut feeling very sick. They were helped
down the mountain to improve breathing and as expected, as oxygen
partial pressure improves, sick individuals improve and recover quickly.
The five climbers recovered but
unfortunately for Gugu the descending did not yield the expected
results,” he said. He explained that after arriving at Marangu Gate,
Zulu was on his way to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) when
he breathed his last.
On examination, it was found that he
succumbed to acute pulmonary edema that is accumulation of fluids in the
lung that fatally impaired his breathing
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