DURBAN – Rescuetech Search and Rescue recovered the body of a man at the base of a cliff in Winston Park situated between Gillitts and Hillcrest in the Upper Highway area yesterday.
This comes after a search was launched for Jamie-Lee Koen, 28, who was reported missing on January 2. He was last seen on Sunday, at 11am, at the Winston Park view site with his friends.
Police said that members from Durban SAPS Search and Rescue had conducted an aerial search with the SAPS Airwing in the Winston Park area last week which yielded no results.
In a statement yesterday, Start spokesperson Andreas Mathios said DNA testing would be conducted to establish the identity of the body.
“The circumstances around the identity and the cause of death will form part of an ongoing investigation and can only be established once a post-mortem and DNA testing has been done,” he said.
Mathios said Koen’s family contacted Rescuetech on Friday night requesting assistance in the ongoing search.
He said a joint operation between Start and Rescuetech started at 7am on Saturday.
Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said members from Durban SAPS Search and Rescue with their Metro Police counterparts were called out yesterday to Winston Park for a body recovery.
Mbele said volunteers from Rescuetech were searching an overgrown area below the cliffs when they came upon a body.
“The body was recovered using a high-angle rope access system and hauled up to the top of the cliff, where it was then carried to the view site parking area and handed over to members from Hillcrest SAPS,” she said.
Deborah Snyman, who has been speaking on behalf of Koen’s family, said the latest official update, as of January 8, was that a body had been recovered.
“This is an ongoing high-profile investigation by SAPS and relevant authorities. Nobody has additional information yet. We left the view site an hour ago (Saturday), with the last SAPS and Metro vehicles. Neither the police nor the family have additional information,” she said.
Snyman appealed to members of the public to stop sharing fake news and urged people to stop messaging the family until the body has been identified.
“Please allow them grace and space,” she said.
THE MERCURY