Miracle rescue: Missing man survives 3 days in Pretoria drain

The mysterious disappearance of a resident in Moot in Pretoria, who was in a stormwater drain for three days, has again put the spotlight on the importance of reporting missing persons.

Unchain Our Children founder Wayne van Onselen, who works on missing cases in the city, said people go missing for various reasons that could be personal or crime related.

No missing persons case is the same

“No missing persons case is the same. We have all dealt with the necessary causation needed to locate the person,” he said.

Van Onselen warned the public not to spread misleading information in missing persons cases because it could delay the search and might mean the difference between life and death for the missing person.

Sinoville Firefighting Association founder Johan Botha said if the resident walking her dog had not spotted the missing man in that drain on Wednesday, he would most probably have died there.

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Otto found in a stormwater drain 3 days later

The 22-year-old Julian Otto went missing on Monday in East Lynne, after he allegedly ordered and cancelled an Uber from Bosloerie Street. He was only found three days later in a stormwater drain.

“If you don’t find a missing person within the first 24 hours the chances get smaller and smaller of them being found alive,” Van Onselen said.

Botha said they even got a drone to fly around the area to see if they could spot him.

“We were busy fighting a fire across the road and an emergency call came in for help with someone stuck inside a drain.

“We initially thought he just fell in and we would need a harness to get him out until we got there and saw he was stuck inside a stormwater drain and we would have to make another plan.”

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Victim was disoriented and dehydrated

Botha said the victim was disoriented and dehydrated which made it difficult to communicate with him and keep him calm.

“We had to make a plan fast because we didn’t know in what state he was. The fact that we got him alive was a miracle, but I just kept wondering how he ended up there,” he said.

This is the not first mystery Botha has encountered during his 14 years at the Sinoville Firefighting Association.

“A few years ago, we were called by police to extinguish a body.

“A Nyaope boy wanted to kill his aunt, but accidentally killed his mother instead and then tried to burn her body to get rid of the evidence. It was terrible,” he said.

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Scene looked like a suicide but turned into electrocution

Botha said another scene initially looked like a suicide but turned out to be an electrocution.

“The mother went to the shop only to find her son missing when she returned.

“After she searched for him for hours, they discovered him hanging from a power line outside the house.

“We only found out later he had tampered with the power box and then fell,” he said.

Botha said they have also been called out to help remove handcuffs from children or to cut rings off fingers.

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“I will never forget the ring made out of titanium, white gold and yellow gold. When the wearer nervously asked if I had ever cut off a ring before, I laughed and said no. But we got the ring off safely within 30 seconds,” he said.