A flood search and rescue operation has claimed the lives of a policewoman and a police dog which tried to save her in KwaZulu-Natal province on Sunday, the South African Police Service announced on Monday.
Busisiwe Mjwara, aged 42, was a police diver in the Pietermaritzburg search and rescue unit when she met her fate, the SAPS said.
Mjwara was conducting a search on Sunday morning in the Msunduzi River for three victims that had drowned earlier in the week when she got into difficulties and drowned, police said.
She was airlifted to a nearby hospital but declared dead on arrival, they added.
During the same operation, K9 Leah (a police dog) from the Durban Central Search and Rescue unit also drowned when she was sent to rescue Mjwara as she also experienced difficulties, the police said.
“We mourn the loss of these two heroes. They will be missed in the search and rescue community,” the SAPS said.
Meanwhile, another SAPS member and 31-year-old Thandazile Sithole who was attached to the Durban Central Police Station, died when her home collapsed on her last week.
Thirty other police officers also have been affected by the floods, with some injured and the majority displaced after their homes were washed away in the deluge.
Over 450 people have died in the flash floods that hit KwaZulu Natal last week, flooding rivers, neighbourhoods and businesses – apart from rendering the Indian Ocean port of Durban inoperable as mopping up operations continue in efforts to reopen Southern Africa’s busiest harbour.
NM/jn/APA