Body retrieved from town dam
More than 100 bystanders watched as police officials retrieved the body of a man from the town dam in Modimolle on Sunday morning.
According to eyewitnesses, the Modimolle Police was called after a resident saw the body floating next to reeds in the dam. The area, shaded by big trees, is close to the entrance of a shopping mall and offers a popular resting spot for residents. Some people regularly fish nearby.
Provincial police divers, officers of the local police station, and the K9 unit (Dog Unit) retrieved the body using an inflatable boat after the stream took it towards the middle of the dam.
According to WO Pieter Booyse of the Modimolle Police, they have identified the 31-year-old man and contacted his next of kin. The man was a resident of Modimolle. His name has not yet been made public.
Drownings at the dam are a regular occurrence. Die Pos previously reported on the drowning of a man who jumped in from the dam wall and disappeared beneath the water whilst eyewitnesses watched helplessly in July 2019. In November 2020 a 28-year-old man drowned and in January 2021 a 46-year-old man who police suspected was a fisherman, also lost his life after he fell into the water.
According to police officers at the scene, the dam is approximately 5 m deep where the body was initially seen. They suspected that he drowned on Friday or early Saturday morning.
