Port Elizabeth - The body of a girl who went missing in a lagoon at the Seekoei River, in Jeffrey's Bay, was found on Monday, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.
“The body of a 12-year-old female, from Humansdorp, was located and recovered by police divers during a scuba dive search,” NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said in a statement.
“The body of the child has been handed into the care of the forensic pathology services.”
The girl went missing in the lagoon when she and another 12-year-old girl reportedly ran into it while playing on Sunday.
It was believed they were wading in shallow water which suddenly got deeper. Neither girl was able to swim.
One got back to shallow water, but the other disappeared under the water.
“They are part of a church group of children, parents, and church elders from Humansdorp that had bused to the Seekoei Nature Reserve camp site at the lagoon for the day,” Jeffrey's Bay station commander Rieghard Janse van Rensburg said at the time.
“The female survivor was transported to hospital as a precautionary measure by EMS ambulance for observation for secondary drowning, although in a stable condition, and she was released from hospital later.”
Police trauma counsellors were assisting the family.
Sapa