Durban – Police in Polokwane, the capital of Limpopo, have opened an inquest docket after the body of a woman was retrieved from a crocodile infested dam in Tshitomboni village on Sunday.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the SAPS Search and Rescue Unit retrieved the body of 29-year-old Lizzy Humbelani Mudzanani from the Nandoni Dam on January 2.
Mojapelo said Mudzanani reportedly went to the dam to do laundry on Saturday morning when she was allegedly attacked by crocodiles.
“Lizzy Humbelani Mudzanani from Tshitomboni village under Thohoyandou policing area reportedly went to the dam to wash family clothes yesterday morning (Saturday) when she was allegedly attacked by crocodiles which grabbed her and dragged her into the water,” he said.
The local police were called and the Search and Rescue Unit, as well as the Water Wing and the K9 Unit were immediately activated, he said.
Mojapelo said due to the presence of crocodiles in the dam, police had to make use of water canoes to conduct the search.
“The badly dismembered body of the deceased was later in the afternoon retrieved from the water,” he said.
Police said an inquest docket had been opened.
Last month The Mercury reported a crocodile grabbed 18-year-old Amelie Osborn-Smith, from the UK, on the leg and dragged her under the water while she was white water rafting on the Zambezi river in Zambia.
The teen was evacuated to Medland Hospital, where she underwent surgical procedures by the trauma unit, who later advised her that her foot would be fine and that she would be able to walk again.
THE MERCURY