River swallows child, teen

2009-07-16 08:46

Marlene Neethling and Nurene Jassiem

Cape Town - A stormy Breede River claimed the life of a 16-year-old youth on Wednesday morning, and presumably also the lives of two of his family members, when the vehicle they were travelling in was swept off a flooded bridge.

Three of the boy's family members were rescued from the river about 1km from where they were swept off the bridge near Bonnievale.
The tragedy happened as two families in three vehicles were on their way from Port Elizabeth to see family in Cape Town.

At approximately 01:30 one of the vehicles, a BMW with six passengers, was swept off Drew bridge when the driver tried to cross the low-tide bridge, which was under water due to the rainy weather of the past few days. 

River was overflowing

The victims' names have not been released, since their families have not yet been informed.

The farming community at Drew bridge reached out to the survivors and the passengers of the other two vehicles on Wednesday night, offering them food and lodging.

According to Lizl Viljoen, acting commanding officer of Bonnievale police, the Breede River started overflowing on Tuesday at about 16:00, and was "flowing very heavily" throughout the night.

The PE convoy had presumably been redirected from the N2 before Swellendam, since a truck which was transporting milk had overturned outside Swellendam in the direction of Cape Town at around midnight.

According to the provincial traffic department, the N2 was closed until about 05:00.

A traffic spokesperson confirmed to Die Burger that traffic was redirected in the direction of Bonnievale while the road was closed.

Passengers jumped out of car

"The driver of the vehicle in front - a white BMW - didn't see that the bridge was under water, and wanted to cross it," said Viljoen.
This low-tide bridge serves as the starting point for the second day of the annual Breede River marathon, and is located about 20km from Bonnievale.

Peter Darlove of the Montagu Mail reported that residents in the area told how the passengers tried to jump out of the car as it was being swept away by the river.

According to Viljoen, the people in the other two vehicles saw the incident take place, and raced to a nearby farm to get help. Several police units, Overberg disaster management and Cape Town's metro emergency service were deployed to the area at about 02:00.

The metro emergency services' Skymed helicopter was also deployed at 10:52 to help with the search for the missing passengers.

Clinging to a tree

Viljoen said the three survivors were found about 1km from the bridge where they were clinging to a tree in the river.

The 20-year-old driver of the BMW, a two-year-old and a 30-year-old woman, presumably the child's mother, were brought to safety and treated for shock and exposure at Robertson provincial hospital.

On Wednesday afternoon the body of a 16-year-old youth was found near the tree where the survivors were rescued. By 18:00 there was still no sign of a four-year-old girl and a 33-year-old woman who were also in the vehicle. The vehicle also hasn't been found yet.

Anzel Smith, spokesperson for the metro emergency services, said the helicopter stopped searching at approximately 13:50. The rest of the rescue team had to stop the search after 18:00 due to dangerous conditions.

Viljoen said: "The water level has started to drop, but police divers can't go into the river because it is still too rough."

"We will resume the search at 09:00. Thus far there are no signs of the car or the other two passengers."
 

- Die Burger