Search operations for missing people who were washed away while attending a church ritual on the Jukskei river have been called off due to heavy rain.
PHOTO: Twitter/@RobertMulaudzi
- Fourteen bodies have been recovered from the Jukskei River in Johannesburg.
- They were part of a group that was swept away by a flash flood during a baptism ceremony.
- Search and rescue teams had to cancel the search due to heavy rain.
Confused and stressed: This is how the family of Thokozani Sibanda, 33, who went missing over the weekend, while waiting outside the Hillbrow morgue, felt.
On Monday, the families of those who were swept away during a baptism ceremony in the Jukskei River on Saturday gathered at the morgue to identify their loved ones.
While some family members did not want to speak to the media, Sibanda’s family told reporters that all they wanted was to find her.
So far, search and rescue teams have recovered 14 bodies from the Jukskei river after the group was swept away.
Speaking to News24 outside the Hillbrow morgue, Sibanda’s aunt Hloniphani Ncube said the young woman was last seen over the weekend and never returned home. Sibanda did not appear in any of the photographs they were shown.
READ | Little boy among 14 bodies recovered from the Jukskei river after being washed away during the baptism ceremony
“My concern now is where she is. We are stressed,” he said.
“We can’t cope if we don’t know where she is. We’ve been looking for her since yesterday. [Sunday]. We just heard the news yesterday.
“We hope she’s still out there because she’s not in the photos, so we have some faith that we’ll find her,” he added.
Sibanda’s husband, who was also outside the morgue, could not muster the strength to speak to the media.
Gauteng EMS spokesman Robert Mulaudzi told News24 that due to heavy rain, the search had to be called off.
Mulaudzi said it was not yet clear how many people had been swept away.
News24 previously reported that two bodies were recovered on Saturday, with another 12 recovered on Sunday.
National Marine Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesman Craig Lambinon said up to 18 people may have been swept away in the flash flood. On Saturday, the rescue team located the bodies of a woman and a teenage girl.
Another woman was rescued near Arkwright Avenue and taken to the hospital. On Sunday they recovered the bodies of three men, six women, a girl, a boy and a toddler.
“It has not been ruled out that one or more cases may not be related to church baptism and may be isolated incidents that had not been reported. Investigations are continuing,” Lambinon said.
