Welkom police divers will resume searching on Thursday for a man who is believed to have drowned when a boat capsized on the Vaal Dam early on Wednesday.
”They were searching for the man the whole day,” said Free State police spokesperson Sergeant Malebo Khosana. ”[The search] was called off at 7pm and no body was recovered.”
The police divers would resume their search between 6.30am and 7am on Thursday, depending on the light, he said.
The missing man is in his 40s and from Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng.
”They will keep on searching until they find him,” said Khosana. ”It’s no longer a matter of rescuing because the person has been under the water for a long time.”
Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman said the boat had made a U-turn, took in water and capsized at about 4am on Wednesday. The three people onboard decided to swim for the shore, about 300m away, but one did not make it.
Gauteng
Meanwhile, police divers recovered the body of a 35-year-old man from the Nigel Dam on the East Rand on Wednesday evening, Gauteng police said.
Spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said Piero Belotti was at the dam with friends during the day. He allegedly got into trouble while in the water in the afternoon.
The Gauteng water wing found his body at about 7.35pm. An inquest docket has been opened.
Also, a man was found floating in a swimming pool in Observatory, Johannesburg on Wednesday, Johannesburg emergency services said.
Spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said the man, in his mid-20s, was declared dead on the scene.
He appeared to have been the gardener at the house and was believed to have gone swimming while the owners were at home. — Sapa