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KZN floods: Hunt for escaped crocodiles underway
Most of the crocodiles have been captured but three are still at large.
Twelve crocodiles escaped from the Crocodile Creek Farm during the floods in KZN. Photo: Twitter
The eThekwini municipality said 12 crocodiles escaped into the Tongaat River during the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
Although nine have since been captured, three of the reptiles are still on the loose.
Search for crocodiles continues
The municipality said the search for the crocodiles that are still missing is underway.
“A team from KZN Wildlife and the municipality’s conservation section is closely monitoring the situation,” it said.
The animals were washed away from the Crocodile Creek Farm between Tongaat and Ballito.
A video circulating on social media shows one of the crocodiles on the river bank of the Tongaat River.
Python also caught near Tongaat
The crocodiles weren’t the only reptiles on the loose.
On Tuesday night, snake catcher Nick Evans was called out to rescue a python near the Westbrook area.
“Poor thing must have had a heck of a time. The Tongaat river was quite close. It must have got washed down, and ended up here. It must have been like being in a washing machine,” he said.
Evans said the snake was entangled in the debris on the beach. He grabbed the python’s head and tried pulling the rest of the snake’s body with his free hand.
Although cold and exhausted, Evans said the python is in good health.
“It is a very impressive sized python! Over 3m, and super chunky. A very well fed snake,” he said.
More than 250 bodies in eThekwini mortuaries
KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu earlier on Wednesday confirmed the death toll from the floods in eThekwini alone has risen to more than 250.
The death toll went up from previous figures of 45 on Tuesday.
“Our mortuaries are a bit under pressure, however, we are coping. As of late last night, we had received something close to 253 bodies in our two different mortuaries in eThekwini… we are talking about Phoenix and Pinetown,” she said in an interview with eNCA.
Security company Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) said it has also helped to recover 22 bodies as the floods start to subside.
ALSO READ: Security company Rusa helps recover 22 more bodies after KZN floods
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Ramaphosa says aid is on the way
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday visited flood victims in the badly hit areas of KZN, including Clermont, Lindelani, Ntuzuma, Emawoti and Umzinyathi.
As Ramaphosa surveyed the damage, he assured flood victims that government will help those families affected by the floods.
“I wanted to visit this area to see what has occurred… and I can see that [following the floods] this area is in a very bad state. A great tragedy has befallen you, one that we have not seen in a long time,” Ramaphosa said.
NOW READ: President Ramaphosa assures KZN flood victims that aid and relief is on the way
