MBOMBELA – “No one was asked or expected to be here but they came anyway. If this doesn’t make you proud of South Africa, I don’t know what will. We just hope that he will be found.”
These are the words of Anneke van Schoor, one of the community members who joined in the search for Nick Wiesmann, who has been missing since Saturday evening.
Hear from members of the community who joined the search today:
Members of the community, defence force, SAPS, Working on Fire, K9 rescue teams, Bossies Community Justice and Nelspruit Concerned Citizens spent the day searching the gardens extensively. Unfortunately, there are no new leads and the search of the gardens was called off this afternoon.
According to Capt Pieter Smit of the flying squad, the area has been “walked, flown and dived” and there is no place which has not been covered.
10:30 – The search for Nick Wiesmann (76) has broadened its scope after 70 community members joined the operation that was launched on Saturday.
The search operation commenced at about 20:00 after after Wiesmann had disappeared. He was last seen attending a wedding at 17:45.
Read: The first 24 hours of the Wiesmann search
According to his wife, Ms Bettina Wiesmann, he walked from the marquee tent that had been pitched for the wedding, to the couple’s rental car. “He wanted to fetch a jacket, but never returned” she said.
The police’s Capt Pottie Potgieter said that the large number of community members would make today’s search more effective. “We have also been searching in surrounding areas and the police in other towns in Mpumalanga are also patrolling the streets, looking for any sign of Wiesmann,” he said.
Read: Search for Nick Wiesmann – Day 5
View a gallery of today’s search:
