Emergency services personnel recover the bodies of three men who died after entering a sewage manhole in Benoni. Picture: Supplied
Five people have died in two separate incidents in Gauteng this week, after two boys were swept away in the Natalspruit River and three maintenance workers perished in a sewage manhole in Benoni.
On Sunday afternoon, rescue divers were dispatched to the Natalspruit River situated near Kaunda Street in Zonkizizwe, following reports of a drowning.
“Two boys who were part of a larger group had been swimming when the two boys went under water and never came up,” said police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Grant Giblin.
Despite an immediate response from the Ekurhuleni Water Policing and Diving Services, which arrived at the scene swiftly, it took 30 minutes of diving efforts to locate the bodies at a depth of approximately three metres.
In a second incident on Tuesday morning, in Benoni, at the corner of Liverpool and Bradford roads, three men employed by a plumbing company went missing after entering a sewage manhole.
As rescue efforts began in earnest, teams from the Ekurhuleni Water Policing and Diving Services, Gauteng SAPS K9 Search and Rescue Units, and Emergency Services conceptualised a strategy to locate the missing men amid the perilous circumstances surrounding the manhole.
Faced with hazardous levels of methane gas and the risk of suction inside the manhole, which descended approximately six-metres, rescue teams had to take significant precautions.
Efforts to drain the sewerage using three sucker trucks were ineffectual, prompting a re-evaluation of the operation.
Under the supervision of Warrant Officer Chris Swanepoel, the team employed improvised tools lowered by rope to conduct search and recovery operations.
“Using high angle rope techniques Warrant Officers Martin Bann (Ekurhuleni Water Policing and Diving Services) and Warrant Officers Len Willemse (Tshwane K9 Search and Rescue), wearing hazard material suits with breathing apparatus made turns being lowered into the hole and recovering the victims’ bodies,” said Giblin.
All five bodies have been handed over to the Benoni SAPS for investigation.
Authorities are appealing to the public for any information that could aid these ongoing investigations.
IOL