Johannesburg - In the crucial hours after Enock Mpianzi disappeared on Wednesday afternoon, no one knew he was missing as a proper headcount had apparently not been completed at an orientation camp.
On Friday, Parktown Boys’ High School confirmed that the 13-year-old boy was only discovered missing the following morning after a “water activity”.
It’s believed that Enock drowned when a raft he and fellow pupils had built in an exercise had capsized in fast moving water.
After the exercise, the teachers, unaware that Enock was missing, sent the school boys on a hike and took them to dinner, before the youngsters had a sleep out in the bush, according to a statement issued by Parktown Boys’ High School on Friday.
“Late on Thursday morning it became apparent that a boy had gone missing from the camp,” the statement read.
By 3.20pm on Thursday, the police had been informed of the disappearance and Enock’s father was told that all efforts to locate the boy had failed.
On Friday morning, police divers located his body in the Crocodile River near Brits in the North West.
Children play in the Crocodile River where a Parktown Boys’ High pupil drowned during a Grade 8 school orientation outing on Wednesday. Picture: Facebook
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi spoke to the media just hours after Enock’s distraught mother formally identified his body at the river’s edge.
Just a day before, Enock had headed with his classmates to the Nyati Sports school, unable to sleep the night before because he had been so excited to attend.
Lesufi said when teachers realised a child could be missing, they were forced to phone parents to establish if they had sent their children on the school trip.
The boys were taking part in an exercise where they had to make rafts to ferry an apparent injured person across the river. The river at the time was said to have been flowing strongly because of recent rains.
“After that exercise, everyone indicated to us that they were aware that a learner was missing. Only when they did a headcount, did they realise that the numbers were not the same. They indicated that other children were booked to come on the trip but never pitched up,” explained Lesufi.
“So they started phoning
everyone that was not there. They
thought this child was one of those
who didn’t make it. But when they
checked, they realised that someone
was missing because their belongings
were there.”
Lesufi said that it was also unclear
if the pupils were wearing life vests
during the raft-building exercise or if
there were lifeguards watching over
them at the time.
On the Nyati Sport School’s
Facebook page there are photographs
of school children taking part
in the raft-building exercise and
not wearing life vests. The lodge
has referred all questions to the
education department.
Early on Saturday the school released a statement regarding the tragic event.