The body of a 16-year-old boy has been recovered after he drowned in a dam in Mgobodzi, Nkomazi on Wednesday February 15.
A provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, said the tragedy followed the devastating floods that hit parts of Nkomazi in recent weeks.
Mohlala said the Tonga police received a call at about 18:00 on Wednesday after community members retrieved the body of the teenager from the dam.
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He said the boy and his friends went to the dam to cool off.
“It is alleged that when his friends realised that he did not come out of the water they went and reported this to the elders,” said Mohlala.
He said some community members managed to retrieve the body of the boy, then alerted the authorities. Medical personnel certified him dead at the scene.
The provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela, has, in the wake of the most recent drowning, warned community members to refrain from getting too close to rivers or dams.