Brave cops save youngsters from swollen river
River rescue drama unfolds last night.
TAKING on the forces of nature, four brave Empangeni policemen entered the flooded Black Umfolozi river yesterday evening to save 10 youths clinging for their lives to rocks in the middle of the raging torrent.
The call came through at about 3.30pm that four children aged between 10 and 15 years were swimming downstream of a bridge 10km south of Ulundi when a wave of water suddenly flooded the river, spreading 200 metres from bank to bank.
Six older boys tried to rescue them but were themselves swept onto rocks midstream.
Members of the SAPS Empangeni Divepoint and K9 Search & Rescue units responded and were on scene at 4.30pm.
‘We were able to shout across the noise to the boys, who were surprisingly calm, apart from a couple of the smaller ones who could not swim and were slightly hyperthermic,’ said rescuer W/O Waldo Herbst.
‘We were unable to launch our boat and used a swift water rescue technique, wading out among debris into the strong, treacherous current, giving them life jackets and bringing them back one by one.’
The three-hour rescue completed, the fearless foursome arrived back in Empangeni at about 9.30pm, pleased that this time, they had no body bags to bring home.
