Durban - The body of a fifth child has been found in a dam in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands after a bakkie carrying children crashed into it on Monday morning, emergency services said.
“Sadly the body of a fifth child has been recovered from the sludge in the dam,” spokesman Robert McKenzie said in a statement.
The bodies of four other children were found in the morning.
Emergency personnel had to drain the dam to get to the bakkie and the last child. It was still not known how many children were in the bakkie. Twenty-four others were rescued and taken to hospital.
“The exact number of children who were on board the vehicle is not known and the search is continuing as there are children who have been reported missing by parents,” he said.
McKenzie said the bakkie was lodged in the sludge and a grader had to be used to get it out. Initial attempts to have the grader lift the bakkie failed.
“The TLB (grader) is now being used to scoop the mud away from the bakkie and a high pressure water hose is being used to loosen the mud's suction effect, to try free the bakkie out of the mud,” said McKenzie.
Sapa