Search for missing 2 suspended
2012-08-12 19:29
Johannesburg - Attempts to find a farmer and a paramedic swept away by flooded rivers in the Eastern and Western Cape have been suspended, authorities said on Sunday.
The search for Kareedouw farmer Fritz Myburgh was halted on Saturday because of bad weather, Eastern Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Priscilla Naidu said. In addition the river current was very strong.
"It is raining even now as we speak. The search will resume tomorrow [Monday] if the weather is good."
Myburgh disappeared after his Mitsubishi Colt bakkie was swept off the Kouga bridge at 20:00 on Tuesday. His wife Poppie was able to climb out and hold onto a rock about 100m downstream.
"That was the last time she saw her husband or the bakkie," Naidu said.
She was found at 13:00 on Wednesday by passers-by who alerted the police.
In the Western Cape, the search for the woman paramedic swept off the Cogmanskloof bridge in an ambulance in Montagu on Tuesday morning was postponed on Saturday morning. The river level was high, emergency services spokesperson Keri Davids said.
"We don't know when the search will resume. Police will tell us."
Rescuers found the vehicle about 200m from the bridge on Wednesday, but the paramedic was not inside.
- SAPA
