Dad finds child's body in river

2006-08-04 07:25

Cindy Preller

Port Elizabeth - A father carrying the tiny body of his daughter, wrapped in clothes, through the streets of Kabega Park was one of many heart-rending scenes witnessed in the flood-ravaged Port Elizabeth area on Thursday.

Family, friends and rescue workers searched for Kayla Sampson, 3, for six hours before her body was found in the Baakens River, behind a house in Perth Street.

The BMW in which she and her mother, Jolene Sampson were travelling, was a few metres away, stuck in the river.

Mother and daughter were swept away by flood waters about 06:30 on Thursday when they tried to cross the causeway between Sherwood and Kabega Park.

A family friend said Sampson had to unlock the Westleigh learn and play centre in Kabega Park. The alarm was sounded when she hadn't arrived by 08:00.

A shock family friend said: "One gets used to taking the same route to work and at that time it was still dark, so she probably didn't see the water.

Dad found tiny body

"She has a broken pelvis and broken arm."

Sampson, who was three months pregnant, was found by her brother in a tree. She apparently complained that she couldn't feel her lower limbs. She was covered in bruises.

Meanwhile Sampson's husband Charl looked all over the valley for Kayla and found her tiny body about 13:00.

Beatrix Stamps, of Greenacres Hospital, confirmed that Sampson had been admitted.

In another drama in the Baakens valley, a woman clung to a tree in the icy river for more than an hour until the NSRI rescued her in the early hours.

Her car was swept away by the river, but she managed to get out and cling to the tree.

- Die Burger