Teen filmed drowning in lake by friends ‘dreamed of joining RAF’

A ‘loving’ 19-year-old boy died after drowning in a lake in Nottinghamshire while hanging out with his friends.

Teenager Panashe Muchenje, of Nottingham, was with two friends on a very hot day when he died in Balderton Lake near Newark on May 28.

A shocking video of him drowning has circulated widely on social media and Zimbabwean news media and his family have pleaded with it to be taken down.

It appears to show the boy lowering himself into the lake before getting into difficulty.

His family have asked people to stop speculating about his death which only ‘added insult to injury’.

His nephew, Maxwell Muchenje, 56, paid tribute to Muchenje. He said: ‘He was a very energetic person, very loving.

‘His church community loved him so much, he did a lot within the church and he was friendly. For us it was a tragic event.’

Panashe was reported to be in the lake for 22 minutes before he was rescued, treated by paramedics, and taken to the hospital. On May 30 police confirmed he had died.

His death is not being treated as suspicious by the authorities.

Panashe had relocated to the area from Zimbabwe roughly three years ago. He was currently a student at Nottingham College and was in the middle of applying to the RAF.

The Nottingham Post reported that his cousin said the family thought the accident was a ‘misadventure’ and no one was to blame. He said Panashe was ‘not a good swimmer’ but had ‘basic’ skills.

Muchenje added: ‘The rumours and speculation that has been on the internet has been very devastating for the family, especially his parents and the other boy he was with at the lake.

‘He has been a victim of vile words suggesting he is to blame. If there was anything untoward, we would’ve heard about it by now.

‘The video is causing a lot of harm to the people that loved Panashe.

‘Our biggest appeal is for people to kindly be sensitive and have some sense of humanity and pull down any videos of the terrible incident, stop sharing them and report them.’

Nottinghamshire County Councillor for Balderton, Johno Lee, added: ‘I am both shocked and deeply concerned to learn that video footage relating to the tragic death of a young boy at Balderton Lake is reportedly being circulated across social media platforms, including Facebook, X and others.

‘This is a complete disgrace.

‘A family has suffered the unimaginable loss of a child. The thought that grieving relatives and loved ones could be confronted with footage of those final moments appearing online is utterly unacceptable.

‘I am calling on social media companies to get a grip of this situation and remove any such footage immediately. These platforms have both the ability and the responsibility to act quickly when harmful content is being shared.’

His funeral will be held on June 9.