Cape Town – A refugee father whose son was one of the four youths who drowned at Rocklands beach in Three Anchor Bay on Sunday, saw his son’s body wash up on the rocks on Tuesday, but police divers are yet to retrieve the body due to the rough seas.
Felicien Nzisabira said he was at church when he heard about the drowning of his son and his three friends.
Within an hour of having seen his 18-year-old son Wamungu Damour’s body washed up on the rocks, Nzisabira said: “I’ve been here from 7am.
“We saw the body about 10.30am. He was lying on the beach rocks.
‘‘The others were found yesterday and taken out.”
Nzisabira said police were already on the scene when he arrived.
“I asked them if they could try to help us to take the body out; they said there were processes they had to follow.
‘‘It was about 20 minutes that the body was on the rocks, and it disappeared again into the sea,” Nzisabira said.
Video: Armand Hough / African News Agency (ANA)
Wamungu Damour and two other teenagers, aged 15 and 16, were swept out to sea in a rip current.
After noticing his friends were in difficulty, a 15-year-old boy tried to help, but also got into difficulty and drowned.
On Monday evening two of the bodies were recovered after multiple response units were called to the
scene, said NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon.
“NSRI Table Bay and NSRI Bakoven were alerted following a report from a Cape Times reporter confirming that a body, suspected to be a body of one of the missing teenagers, had been spotted in the surf at Rocklands Beach,” Lambinon said.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the two were since identified as Anni Moshi and Sanga Ndala.
“Yesterday morning, both the NSRI and police divers resumed the search for the last teenager who also disappeared in the water after being caught in a rip current.
“The body of the fourth teenager was spotted on Tuesday but could not yet be recovered as divers were waiting for conditions to be conducive to retrieve the body,” said Potelwa.