Four-year-old Sthembinkosi Mbili was fascinated by how much a river had swollen following this week’s heavy rains, but his decision to take a closer look cost him and his sister their lives.
On Wednesday morning, the boy drowned along with his sister Amanda, 6, who jumped into the river to try and save him.
Yesterday paramedics reported that a 14-year-old girl and 24-year-old woman had drowned in a lagoon at Uvongo beach on the South Coast.
Netcare911 spokesman Chris Botha said the girl got into trouble due to a strong current and the woman tried to save her, but also went underwater.
This brings to seven the number of people who have died in the floods.
The Mbili siblings, from KwaMakhutha, were visiting relatives living near the Golokodo River, at Zwelisha, near Umbumbulu, for the holidays when they drowned.
Their relative, Phindile Shange, said yesterday the children had gone to the river with their cousins, Nomalungelo, 10, and Mluleki Shange, 6.
Shange said the children went to the river without her knowledge or consent, and she had repeatedly warned them not to play near the river.
She said that according to the surviving children, Sthembinkosi had been standing on a rock when he slipped and was swept away by the swift river.
“Amanda jumped in to save her brother, but she also drowned,” said Shange.
Amanda’s body was retrieved on Wednesday afternoon and Stembinkosi’s was found yesterday.
Shange said the siblings’ mother, Zandile Mbili, was taken to hospital yesterday after she collapsed when told that her children had drowned.
Meanwhile, BHP Billiton announced the donation of R2 million to victims of the floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
BHP Billiton SA chairman Xolani Mkhawanzi hoped the company’s pledge would be followed by donations from other organisations.
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube, the head of disaster management in KZN, said: “More than 1 000 people have been affected by the flooding in KZN, and Ladysmith in particular has been affected badly as it has experienced wet conditions since December 28.”
The MEC said the department was not yet in a position to declare any of the affected areas “disaster areas”, which would pave the way for government assistance.
On Wednesday, a caravan was washed into a swollen river 10km from the Drakensberg Gardens Hotel during heavy rainfall.
Hotel general manager Peter Muil said the hotel’s caravan park had been flooded.
“Luckily we managed to move guests to the hotel.”
However, one caravan, which still had a staff member inside, was pulled by flood waters into a nearby river.
A rope was tied to Garth Patterson, a local farm manager, who plunged into the raging waters to help the stranded elderly staffer, said Muil. Patterson brought the man to safety.
In another incident, Cabangile Mdabe, of Umgababa, said she was lucky to be alive after a wall at her home collapsed on Tuesday night.
Mdabe said she noticed the roof was caving in and had just left the house when the wall collapsed. - The Mercury