Diving unit releases holiday drowning statistics for Mpumalanga
Compared to 2021/22, Mpumalanga saw an increase in the number of people who drowned over the 2022/23 festive season.
Mpumalanga had more drownings during the 2022/23 festive season than it did for the same period in 2021/22.
In December alone, 14 people drowned in rivers and dams across the province. That is nearly double compared to 2021, when eight people lost their lives.
The same goes for the January comparison. During the first 13 days of 2022, six people had drowned. During the first 17 days of 2023, 11 people drowned.
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Among the deceased were six children, three in December, aged nine, 10 and 16, and three in January, two aged 10 and one 14.
From April to December, a total of 82 people drowned in the province.
The Mpumalanga Police Diving Unit is the entity working around the clock tending to these incidents. This includes going into hippo and crocodile infested waters. Despite the diving unit’s constant efforts, only 13 of the 14 December bodies were recovered.
Captain Pottie Potgieter of the diving unit said 80% of the December drownings occurred when people tried to cross rivers with higher than normal levels, following the rain during that month.
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These drownings occurred in Morgenzon, eManzana, Mbombela (2), eMalahleni (2), Kriel, KaNyamazane, Middelburg (2), Mkondo, Tonga, Secunda and Standerton.
January’s drownings, in turn, tended to happen when people went swimming because of the high temperatures experienced over the last few weeks.
These occurred in eManzana, Elukwatini, Amsterdam, Marite, Tonga, Vosman, KwaMhlushwa, Embalenhle, Calcutta, Middelburg and Belfast.
Potgieter said the warnings for avoiding drownings remain the same: Do not go swimming alone, do not cross rivers with a strong flow and do not go swimming while intoxicated.
