Image: iStock.
On Friday afternoon, search-and-rescue officers from Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal, were called out the Umkomaas River, Dududu area, after a reported drowning.
Officers with the K9 unit, and search dog Bear, combed the area and recovered the body of a 17-year-old boy.
Police have opened an inquest docket and the circumstances surrounding the incident are still being investigated, confirm provincial police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala.
The river has been the sight of a number of drownings.
In September last year, a baby girl drowned when her mother slipped while crossing the river. She had been carrying her two daughters, aged 14 months and three years, when she slipped. The baby was declared dead on arrival at a nearby clinic.
Her older sister was treated before being airlifted to hospital.
In 2016, a 15-year-old boy died while trying to save another teenager from drowning. The 15-year-old jumped into the water at Widenham on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast to save a teenage girl who had got into difficulty, News 24 previously reported.
He died in hospital, while the girl was treated on the beach before being taken to hospital.
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