A ferry boat carrying more than 70 people capsized on Roodeplaat Dam, north of Pretoria, on Wednesday afternoon, Tshwane emergency services said.
Spokesperson Johan Pieterse said one passenger suffered a serious leg laceration and was taken to hospital. However, there were conflicting reports on the number of injured, with one stating there were three.
Rescue divers had apparently finished searching the water at the northern end of the dam, about 40m from the dam wall, just before 7pm.
”On arrival … [emergency services] found 42 people ashore and they were transported back to base. The others had already gone with their various other transport,” Pieterse said.
He said the people on board the two-levelled ferry — called the Pisces — had joined an open function. He said they did not all know each other so it was difficult to verify that everyone had reached the shore safely.
”There is no name list, so we can’t check if everyone is safe or not,” he said. And, according to the owner of the boat, there were no vehicles left standing at the launch site.
Pieterse said the Pisces capsized and overturned at about 2.45pm.
”It looks like the boat went on to rocks and … the water came in due to the weight of the people on the boat. It capsized. It was quite a long distance from where it originally started from.”
An exact figure of how many people were on board could not be established on Wednesday evening. Pieterse said about 74 people had been on board, while Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman said 83 people had swum about 100m to 150m to the shore.
Dollman said two people had been transported to hospital. One of them had cut himself on glass from the boat. The other — a paraplegic — had lost a wheelchair when the boat capsized, he said.
Pieterse said the boat had been on the dam ”for many years”. He was not sure all safety regulation measures had been in place. ”We also heard that there was only one lifejacket on the boat, which is a huge concern for us.”
By Wednesday evening, only the drums on the underside of the boat were visible above the shore.
An official from the department of water affairs told media on the scene that the department will be investigating the incident.
One man who was on the boat said it had only taken minutes until the boat sank. ”Around 3pm one of the passengers had realised something was wrong and called all the people on the boat, who then went to one side.”
The man said he did not think there were enough lifejackets on the boat. ”I could see only 8 or 10,” he said. ”I was not really scared but there were a lot of okes who were really scared. Some jumped overboard and started swimming.”
One passenger said the boat had been hosting a ”booze cruise”, while another said a strip show was held there on Wednesdays. Police and emergency officials could not confirm the exact kind of ”pleasure” the boat offered.
Superintendent Eugene Opperman said no criminal case will be investigated in this case. However, he said the South African Police Service water wing will be very strict about water safety this festive season. Cases where inadequate supplies of lifejackets, overloading and drunken piloting of boats are found will not be tolerated. — Sapa