THE Sibisi family in Mandeni has pleaded for assistance in whatever way to recover the body of their son, Siyamthanda (10), who went missing on Monday.
He was last seen swimming with his friend in the Tugela river near Mandeni.
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According to the mother Nombuso Sibisi (31), the police and medical search and rescue teams called in to assist in finding her son’s body have let her down.
She said claims of the river being too dangerous to dive in were not true.
“Young men from the community were able to dive into the river from where the incident allegedly took place, up to at least 100m towards the ocean,” said Sibisi.
She said after showing videos of the community members swimming in the allegedly ‘dangerous’ Tugela river, the professional divers called off the search on Tuesday.
“I feel they were lazy to dive because their search has been only on the river banks, saying it was dangerous to get into the water,” said the distraught mother.
However, IPSS Medical Rescue operations manager Phumlani Vezi said they are adamant in assisting the family gain closure and his team is hard at work searching for the body.
“I can understand very well the frustration of the community and the family of the missing child. On Monday, the tide was very high, and after accessing the situation we agreed members could not risk their lives by diving into the river,” said Vezi.
He further assured the family that they are doing all in their power to recover the body of their son.
“We’ve got all required resources in place, including a drone, jet skis, and enough divers to pull through this operation,” said Vezi.
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