A missing Keiskammahoek toddler was found unharmed 19 hours after she disappeared at the weekend – sleeping near the edge of a cliff with a 20m drop.
Little 20-month-old Thandile was found sleeping in a bush just two metres from the cliff, and rescuers said if she had taken only a few more steps while wandering in the dark lost and alone she would have fallen off the cliff.
She disappeared from her home in Upper Ngqumeya village on Saturday evening, and her miraculous discovery was made the next day by the police’s East London K9 unit and air wing.
But police sounded a cautionary note. “We are sending an urgent warning to parents to be vigilant and look after their children.
“As much as this child was lucky to be found alive and unharmed, the outcome could have been very different,” provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Khaya Thonjeni said.
Thandile was barefoot and wearing only a tracksuit top and leggings. She was last seen playing outside her home with three other children at 4pm on Saturday and wandered off into bushes 500m from home. Tonjeni said the child’s grandmother, Phumla Mavakala, asked the other children where her grandchild was.
“They pointed in the direction of the bush and the family went to search but without success so they called the police,” Tonjeni said.
Police dog handler Warrant Officer Steve Leslie and his dog Buti arrived just after 10pm and, with the help of the community, started searching in the bush.
The search was later called off until morning.
At dawn Leslie and Buti resumed the search but as each hour passed without result, fears for her safety mounted, and a police helicopter was roped in to help.
Within minutes of its arrival, officers in the air spotted an object on the ground and guided Leslie to it. It turned out to be Thandile, who was woken up by the sound of the helicopter. She was soon reunited with her family.
Mavakala said the child had exhausted herself with crying.
Also fortunate for the girl, Saturday night’s temperature had been mild and it had not rained.
Mavakala yesterday expressed her appreciation and gratitude to the police.
She was terrified that the child had been stolen.
She took her granddaughter to the local clinic yesterday as she was suffering from a slight fever as a result of her night out in the wild. — zwanga@dispatch.co.za
Happy ending for missing toddler
A missing Keiskammahoek toddler was found unharmed 19 hours after she disappeared at the weekend – sleeping near the edge of a cliff with a 20m drop.
Little 20-month-old Thandile was found sleeping in a bush just two metres from the cliff, and rescuers said if she had taken only a few more steps while wandering in the dark lost and alone she would have fallen off the cliff.
She disappeared from her home in Upper Ngqumeya village on Saturday evening, and her miraculous discovery was made the next day by the police’s East London K9 unit and air wing.
But police sounded a cautionary note. “We are sending an urgent warning to parents to be vigilant and look after their children.
“As much as this child was lucky to be found alive and unharmed, the outcome could have been very different,” provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Khaya Thonjeni said.
Thandile was barefoot and wearing only a tracksuit top and leggings. She was last seen playing outside her home with three other children at 4pm on Saturday and wandered off into bushes 500m from home. Tonjeni said the child’s grandmother, Phumla Mavakala, asked the other children where her grandchild was.
“They pointed in the direction of the bush and the family went to search but without success so they called the police,” Tonjeni said.
Police dog handler Warrant Officer Steve Leslie and his dog Buti arrived just after 10pm and, with the help of the community, started searching in the bush.
The search was later called off until morning.
At dawn Leslie and Buti resumed the search but as each hour passed without result, fears for her safety mounted, and a police helicopter was roped in to help.
Within minutes of its arrival, officers in the air spotted an object on the ground and guided Leslie to it. It turned out to be Thandile, who was woken up by the sound of the helicopter. She was soon reunited with her family.
Mavakala said the child had exhausted herself with crying.
Also fortunate for the girl, Saturday night’s temperature had been mild and it had not rained.
Mavakala yesterday expressed her appreciation and gratitude to the police.
She was terrified that the child had been stolen.
She took her granddaughter to the local clinic yesterday as she was suffering from a slight fever as a result of her night out in the wild. — zwanga@dispatch.co.za
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