JOHANNESBURG – Another body was recovered in Ladysmith, increasing the death toll of the flash floods to 22.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube confirmed the latest death at a visit to the families of the victims on Saturday.
Diving teams have been searching the area for at least five days after a river bank burst leading to flash floods on Christmas Eve.
Dube-Ncube said at least six people were still unaccounted for, with the number of fatalities expected to increase.
“Sadly, there are people who had not reported (to the police) that they were with their family members and they lost them and that is why you find that maybe on a daily basis, you’ll have numbers increasing.”
READ MORE:
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police are searching for two men who are believed to have been washed away by rivers in two separate incidents on Thursday.
The province was also hit by heavy rains, leading to flooding in some areas.
It’s understood one victim was swept away after trying to cross a low-lying bridge at the Komati River, while another was swept away in a river in KaNyamazane.
Spokesperson Selvy Mohlala:
“We request people to try by all means to reschedule their journeys if they see that the weather persists to rain, and avoid trying to cross lower-lying bridges.”