At the height of the floods two weeks ago, a thorn tree proved an unlikely refuge for two trapped men in Shakaskraal.

Driving back from work in their truck at around 7.30pm on April 11, the men were about to cross the Umhlali River bridge on the R102 when the water level swiftly rose.

“They saw taxis crossing the bridge and decided it was safe to do so as well, but as they went through a wall on their right side collapsed and the water that had built up came rushing down the bank and washed the truck off the road,” said employer and Ballito resident Tim Lyle.

Caught in the massive current, the men had to kick out the truck door to avoid a watery grave.

Once out and scrambling to survive the rushing water, they grabbed onto the nearest solid object – a thorn tree implanted in the river.

After they hauled themselves out of the current, residents and search and rescue teams saw the men clinging to the tree and initially attempted to reach them with a borrowed jet-ski.

It was originally incorrectly reported that the jet-ski was used in the rescue. In fact, it became unusable after debris entered the impeller.

“Once the water subsided slightly overnight, the men managed to reach safety at about 3am. Rescue efforts continued until 1am when the jet-ski was damaged,” said Lyle.

The survivors were largely unharmed aside from cuts and bruises obtained in the thorn tree, but they were shaken after spending 7 hours holding on for dear life.

As of last week, retrieval of the truck had been impossible and all that was visible was the rear number plate poking through some foliage in the river bed.