Lowveld residents rallied together in concern when a resident of Machadorp was reported missing to Nelspruit Concerned Citizens on Saturday.

In reality Bennett Steyn’s car had merely broken down.

Family members reported him missing early on Saturday. He had last been seen on Friday. He had left his home in Machadodorp on Friday and his family could not get hold of him.

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The last information of his whereabouts was that he had been travelling on the R38 from the direction of Barberton to Mbombela.

He was with two passengers in a red Nissan 1400 bakkie with a white canopy. All the occupants cellphones had been reported as off.

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Steyn told Lowvelder that the bakkie had broken down on the R38 pass on Friday. “We had a car problem while we were on our way to Mbombela and our phone batteries died,” said Steyn.

The 45-year-old mechanic managed to fixed the car himself, but they were stuck on the pass for about three hours. “When I realised how late it was, we decided to go to a friend’s house for the night and the next day we went home.”