Girls reach safety after getting lost in Steiltes Nature Reserve
Following what was thought to be distressed calls for help coming from the Steiltes Nature Reserve yesterday, January 14, security companies, community organisations and other members of the community launched a search party.
A post on the Nelspruit Concerned Citizens (NCC) Facebook page earned itself over 100 shares as community members’ concern for the safety of some lost young people spread.
It turns out, however, that the youngsters in question had in fact reached safety even before the post had been made.
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The post called on residents in the Steiltes area to notify NCC if their children had gone to the Steiltes Nature Reserve and had not returned home yet. The request came in at about 20:30 on January 14.
“People in Columbus and Suiderkruis streets heard children in distress in the vicinity of Steiltes Nature Reserve,” the post read.
A thorough search of the reserve that yielded no results (as unbeknownst to them, there was no one to be found anymore) was called off at about 22:00, but the members remained on standby.
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A short while afterwards, a message (originally sent before 20:00) was circulated on community WhatsApp groups stating that two girls had gone on a hike and had gotten lost, but that they had already been found by their friends and some members of the community.
It was later confirmed by a member of the community that it was not calls of distress that the residents had heard from the reserve. The children were on a phone call with their friends who were trying to determine their position. The friends had instructed them to yell out in order for them to pinpoint their location.
