Farm dam claims two siblings
Two children drowned when they and another sibling went for a swim in a dam near Mangweni in Tonga on Monday.
MANGWENI – According to reports Corridor Gazette received, the three children were returning home after they had dropped their youngest sibling off at their mother.
They then decided to go for a swim in a nearby farm dam.
All three of them went in the first time and got out safely. However, when they got into the water again, tragedy struck. One of the victims realised that the other was unable to get out. The sister attempted to rescue her brother and both disppeared under the water. The third sibling immediately ran for help.
Police officials were informed and rushed to the scene, and the White River Diving Unit was contacted. On arrival it took the divers ten minutes to recover the bodies.
The Nkomazi Local Municipality (NLM) has warned parents to be more vigilant when it comes to the whereabouts of their children.
NLM spokesman, Mr Cyril Ripinga, sent condolences to the family of the boy and girl aged between 10 and 14. “We send our condolences to the family. They lost two young children in one single event. It was by God’s grace and mercy that the third child survived,” Ripinga said.
“As a municipality we would like to warn communities against swimming in dams and rivers as this can turn badly very quickly. We can’t stress this enough. What may seem a good idea at the moment, is not always the case,” Ripinga explained.
He said parents needed to help prevent such incidents from happening. “We are not saying that they should track their location, however, they should, where possible, monitor the routes their children take returning from school. And also know where their children play during the day.”
Meanwhile on social media locals questioned why help had to come from as far as White River.
• Bongani Stober Mahlalela: There are no contingency plans. How can you wait for divers all the way from White River?
• Walter Fragile Vus’muzi Khubza: I also once asked myself that bro, but to my surprise the problem is that divers of their kind are scarce. Believe me, not many get to train for it or have more information about it. The selection process is not that simple, there are too few in South Africa. In KwaZulu-Natal alone there are only two. They do need a lot more but many don’t make it through the selection process due to poor fitness.
