SEVEN people are believed drowned in Transkei rivers in five different cases, while worshippers attending Easter conventions were left stranded as bridges were covered with water following heavy rain and flooding over the Easter weekend in the Eastern Cape.
OR Tambo District Municipality disaster management chief director Vusumzi Mgobozi said this was one of the most tragic weekends the district municipality has seen in years.
“At least seven people are believed drowned, though some of the bodies are not yet found,” said Mgobozi.
He said they were either crossing flooded bridges to get to church or involved in baptismal ceremonies in the swelling rivers.
Mgobozi said the waters were torrential and difficult to swim in, and this also made it hard to recover the bodies. “Some of the bodies are carried very far away by the water ,” he said.
Most of the drownings were on Saturday.
l A 33-year-old man drowned at Mngxolo River at Noqhekwana village on Saturday at about 7am when the New Apostolic Zion Church leader was performing a baptismal sacrament at the river. The body was recovered by four young men from the village;
l At about 10pm on Saturday a bakkie loaded with 10 Methodist Church members coming from church at Palmerton Mission near Lusikisiki was washed away. While eight congregants survived, two women members disappeared in the stream. The body of one was later found by community members on bushes along the river. Police divers from East London travelled more than 400km from East London to help find the other . It was recovered at about 2pm on Sunday;
l On Saturday at about 7pm two men from Mantusini in Port St Johns drowned while coming from a traditional ceremony at a nearby village. One body was found at 2pm on Sunday by villagers. The search was continuing for the other late yesterday;
l A 17-year-old boy was believed drowned at Mantusini village in Lusikisiki on Sunday afternoon. Divers could not search for the body because the river was too wide and the current too strong. The body has not yet been recovered; and
l A bridge connecting Ntafufu village to the R61 collapsed on Saturday night. A 24- year-old man was drowned trying to cross the bridge despite warnings. “The river is close to the sea and there are fears that the body could be washed into the ocean,” said Mgobozi.
Police spokesman Captain Mduduzi Godlwana s aid the heavy rain began on Thursday night and continued till Sunday afternoon.
In December, 45 people drowned in the Eastern Cape, many of them in rivers after heavy rains.
Police disaster management’s John Fobian said most of the drownings happened in the Tsitsa and Mzimvubu rivers. Others had drowned in the Buffalo and Swartkops rivers, at Bluewater Bay, at Tina Falls, and in various dams, all in Mpondoland. —
Seven drowned in E Cape rivers during Easter weekend
OR Tambo District Municipality disaster management chief director Vusumzi Mgobozi said this was one of the most tragic weekends the district municipality has seen in years.
“At least seven people are believed drowned, though some of the bodies are not yet found,” said Mgobozi.
He said they were either crossing flooded bridges to get to church or involved in baptismal ceremonies in the swelling rivers.
Mgobozi said the waters were torrential and difficult to swim in, and this also made it hard to recover the bodies. “Some of the bodies are carried very far away by the water ,” he said.
Most of the drownings were on Saturday.
l A 33-year-old man drowned at Mngxolo River at Noqhekwana village on Saturday at about 7am when the New Apostolic Zion Church leader was performing a baptismal sacrament at the river. The body was recovered by four young men from the village;
l At about 10pm on Saturday a bakkie loaded with 10 Methodist Church members coming from church at Palmerton Mission near Lusikisiki was washed away. While eight congregants survived, two women members disappeared in the stream. The body of one was later found by community members on bushes along the river. Police divers from East London travelled more than 400km from East London to help find the other . It was recovered at about 2pm on Sunday;
l On Saturday at about 7pm two men from Mantusini in Port St Johns drowned while coming from a traditional ceremony at a nearby village. One body was found at 2pm on Sunday by villagers. The search was continuing for the other late yesterday;
l A 17-year-old boy was believed drowned at Mantusini village in Lusikisiki on Sunday afternoon. Divers could not search for the body because the river was too wide and the current too strong. The body has not yet been recovered; and
l A bridge connecting Ntafufu village to the R61 collapsed on Saturday night. A 24- year-old man was drowned trying to cross the bridge despite warnings. “The river is close to the sea and there are fears that the body could be washed into the ocean,” said Mgobozi.
Police spokesman Captain Mduduzi Godlwana s aid the heavy rain began on Thursday night and continued till Sunday afternoon.
In December, 45 people drowned in the Eastern Cape, many of them in rivers after heavy rains.
Police disaster management’s John Fobian said most of the drownings happened in the Tsitsa and Mzimvubu rivers. Others had drowned in the Buffalo and Swartkops rivers, at Bluewater Bay, at Tina Falls, and in various dams, all in Mpondoland. —
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