US journalist suffered heat stroke in Arua

By Taddeo Bwambale

A US journalist who collapsed and on duty and later died in Arua district on Sunday suffered a heat stroke, according to his wife.

Mathew Power, 39, had accompanied a British explorer, Levison Wood who is attempting to walk the length of the Nile River across six countries.

Agencies, quoting his wife, Jessica Benko, said Power died from an apparent heat stroke. A postmortem report had not been released by Thursday.

The U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Officer, Daniel Travis on Thursday confirmed that they were working with Power’s family to repatriate his body.

Power had joined the Walk the Nile expedition two days before his death. He was known to write for several media outlets including Harper's, GQ, BusinessWeek and Wired.

At the time of his passing, Power was on assignment for Men's Journal. In a tribute, he was described by Men’s Journal as: 'A true adventurer and a principled, ethical journalist.’

Levison described Power’s death as ‘a huge tragedy’ and said he was saddening and shocked.

Power was walking with the explorers in Ajai Game Reserve when he suddenly started vomiting and bleeding through the nose at about 8:30am, Police said.

He was rushed to Arua Regional Referral Hospital but he died at around noon. His body was transported to Mulago Hospital for a postmortem.

Mulago Hospital’s spokesperson, Enock Kusasira declined to reveal details of the autopsy citing privacy considerations.

Police detectives on Wednesday visited the game reserve where Power reportedly suffered the strange attack. He had been scheduled to walk with Levison’s expedition for a week.

Levison’s journey through the source of the Nile started in Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda on December 3, 2013 and followed River Kagera, perceived by some as the source of the Nile.

He will be walking 4,250 miles across Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt which share the Nile.
On arrival in Kampala, Levison amused fans when he sought ‘protection’ from Sylvia Namutebia alias Mama Fina, a traditional healer, who performed elaborate rituals on him.