Publications
- A pastor of the church where congregants drowned during a baptism ceremony has gone to ground.
- Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services said his identity was not known.
- So far, 14 bodies have been retrieved from the river.
According to Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services (EMS), 13 of the 14 bodies retrieved from the Jukskei River have been positively identified.
The bodies are of congregants who were swept away during a baptism ceremony on Saturday evening in Alexandra.
The search for the other missing bodies continues.
Reports are that the pastor of the church survived the flash flood after congregants rescued him.
READ | Jukskei River baptism: Families gather at mortuary to identify loved ones
EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said they had been in contact with the pastor since the day of the tragedy, but that they had since lost contact with him.
It is alleged that the pastor was not running a formal church, but rather used the Jukskei River as a place to perform rituals for people who came to him for consultations.
At this stage, his identity is not known, and because his was not a formal church, Mulaudzi could not confirm the number of people who could have been attending the ceremony.
Speaking to the media outside the Sandton fire station on Tuesday morning, a member of the rescue team, Xolile Khumalo, said:
She said their team would continue with the search.
"Three families have since come forward to confirm missing persons, and while we cannot be certain that the exact number of bodies missing is three, we will continue with our search."
