Eight people died due to drownings across the Lowveld during December. As of January 13 the new year had already seen six drownings.

The Mpumalanga Police Diving Unit has been working around the clock leading gruelling searches in the province and surrounds, in rivers populated with crocodiles and hippos, in order to recover the bodies of the victims and bring closure to their families.

The unit said some of the drownings in January occurred at Lisbon Falls, eMkhondo, Carolina, Calcutta and Acornhoek.

A father and son both drowned at Carolina on January 3. The youngest victim was just two years old, and drowned at eMkhondo on January 2.

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The first drowning was a young Egyptian national (21) at a dam near Croc Valley Farms. The unit said the man was fishing when the tragedy occurred. He had reportedly waded into the water and slipped into a deep hole on the dam floor. The man could not swim. His fishing partner watched helplessly; he was unable to save his friend as he could not swim, either.

No other information on the incident has been confirmed.

Later that day, a 19-year-old man who was said to be bathing in the Lomati River at Tomahawk Farms in KaMhlushwa, died when a crocodile had attacked him.

The police diving unit said the man had been standing on a rock about five metres into the river, while his friend was on the riverbank, when a crocodile appeared.

The croc shot out of the river, chasing the man who had been standing on the bank, however, when it could not catch him, it turned its attention to the 19-year-old on the rock.

With no place to escape, he was dragged from the rock into the water, where he was fatally injured by the crocodile. Meanwhile, a 35-year-old Graskop man died on New Year’s Day.

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According to the diving unit, he had been celebrating the start of the new year at the Lisbon Falls with a group of friends from Johannesburg. He had gone for a swim below the falls at around 15:00, however, the force of the falling water trapped him and held him down, resulting in his drowning.

The diving unit recovered the body on Sunday January 2.