The balance sheet is getting heavier. Fourteen people died in the sudden flooding of a river in Johannesburg, South Africa, hit by violent storms on Saturday, and rescue must continue to find several missing, we learned Sunday evening from city emergency services.
The death toll thus rose from nine to fourteen dead, with the discovery of five additional bodies, said Robert Mulaudzi, spokesman for the city’s emergency services, who was unable to give a figure in the evening. list of people still missing
” Here (Saturday) evening, a group was taking part in religious rituals in the river when a storm fell,” he explained earlier, adding that there were 33 faithful present on the banks of the small Jukskei river at the time of this spectacular flood. . “When the storm broke, many were standing in the river bed, conducting rituals, baptisms” or purification rituals, he said. “They were swept away by the force of the current,” he said, adding that the pastor present at these ceremonies had survived.
The hope of finding the missing alive “is dwindling”
“Two people were taken away, their deaths were confirmed the same evening on the spot,” said the spokesperson. Rescuers, with the support of firefighters, resumed their efforts on Sunday, identifying twelve other bodies. The hope of finding other missing persons “alive is dwindling”, he underlined.
Sudden rises in water are common in this suburb of Johannesburg, where thunderstorms almost every evening during the southern summer are often sudden and violent.
“Access to rivers is free in this country and people practice their religion wherever they want,” said Robert Mulaudzi. And to add: “But we must intensify our awareness campaigns” to prevent tragedies of this type from happening again. »