A nine-year-old boy has drowned in the Orange River in the Eastern Cape, police said on Friday.
It’s alleged that the boy from Vula Vula was swimming in a shallow area of the river with two of his friends, aged seven and eight.
According to police spokesperson Captain Ursula Roelofse, the boy drowned when a very strong stream of water flowed from a higher area and took him down the river.
“The friends were so scared and did not report it to their parents,” Roelofse said.
On 12 January, the parents of the boy who drowned, went looking for him at the one friend’s home as they thought he had slept over.
Roelofse added that the boy’s friends told his parents that he had drowned and that they were too afraid to report the incident.
The matter was reported to the SAPS Search and Rescue unit from Craddock that arrived on Thursday to assist with the search for the body.
The police added that the water levels were currently too high and the search had been called off, however, the rescue team would return to assist as soon as the river’s water levels dropped.
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