SCHAGEN – A man in his early 20s is still missing after he lost his balance while walking on a bridge’s railings and falling into the raging Crocodile River on Friday night.
This is just one of several suspected drowning scenes that police divers had to attend to since the heavens opened in the Lowveld last week. Mr Sanny Mashaba (24) was socialising at a tavern in Schagen and was on his way home at 21:00 when the incident occurred.
He was walking with a group of friends and wanted to show them that he could maintain his balance while walking on the railings.
According to one of the friends in the group, Ms Venolia Mashele, they tried to stop him, but he answered, “I know what I’m doing, I’ve been doing this for years.”
However, Mashaba lost his balance and fell off the bridge which was several metres above the water. His friends alerted J&M Security of the incident and officials informed the police accordingly.
Their divers stationed at White River have been searching for Mashaba since Saturday morning. They haven’t been able to dive yet since the current is very strong and the river is full of hippo.
Mashaba’s brother, Collin, was on the scene with police divers yesterday. He said Sanny had walked on the bridge’s railings before, but that he had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident.
Collin, who is fearing the worst as his brother has yet to be located, had also lost a younger brother in a motor vehicle accident at the Schagen/N4 intersection two months ago.
Police divers withdrew from the scene to attend to another suspected drowning in the Badplaas area.
