HLUHLUWE: Special rescue recovers bodies of three ‘poachers’
The three men saw the rangers and shot at them. The rangers opened fire in self-defence.
The war against rhino poaching rages behind the scenes, in thick bush, along challenging terrain with poachers shooting at rangers who return fire in self-defence.
Lives are in danger and fatalities a regular occurrence.
An intensive three-hour joint operation took place yesterday to recover the bodies of three reported poachers from a deep ravine in the bush in the iMfolozi section south of the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game reserve.
The joint effort involved SAPS Search and Rescue, SAPS Dive Point and IPSS Medical Rescue.
“The poachers were spotted by rangers patrolling a remote area in the game reserve late morning on Wednesday, September 28,” said IPSS Medical Rescue Richards Bay’s Richard Schouten.
“They saw the rangers and shot at them. The rangers opened fire in self-defence.
“All three poachers died and the rangers notified the SAPS anti-poaching unit who sent the Zululand anti-poaching wing with forensic detectives to process the crime scene.”
Schouten said due to bad weather, the mission was postponed to yesterday morning.
“I was asked to join the SAPS search and rescue team and assist with the technical extraction of the bodies. The terrain made it impossible to walk or drive and the SANDF’s 15 squadron’s Orynx helicopter was used to fly us to the ravine.
“The deceased were reached on foot after the rescuers were dropped off by the helicopter and carried out of the dense bush by the rescuers to a staging area where they were winched up into the airframe before being flown out.”
The bodies were handed over to the forensic pathology unit for further investigation.
Schouten said the suspected poachers were armed with firearms, bush knives and an axe. Forensics sent swabs of blood found on them to Onderspoort for analysis.
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