Boy (11) dies after drowning at stagnant Wattville housing site
Police said the victim was swimming with his friends when the incident occurred.
An 11-year-old boy drowned after falling into a flooded excavation trench at a housing project site in Wattville on February 10.
SAPS provincial spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said an inquest docket was opened at Actonville SAPS.
“It is reported that children were swimming in stagnant water when one of them disappeared,” he said.
Police and rescue teams were summoned to the scene where they retrieved the body of the child.
The Benoni City Times reported in January the housing project which began six years ago has hit a snag, leaving residents baffled and without answers.
The newspaper further reported the estimated R260m four-storey development was incomplete and brought shame and pain to residents’ lives.
Criminals have also taken advantage of the easy pickings of door frames and other structural materials on the site.
The City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini acknowledged the project has been delayed for some time, but shared a new estimated completion of this project will be during the 2024/25 financial year.
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