As adverse weather conditions continue to batter Gauteng, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) confirmed the search for a missing man remains ongoing.
The request for assistance came on Sunday, January 5, after 7am by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Search and Rescue South Africa (SARZA).
The NSRI Gauteng station commander, Gerhard Potgieter said the missing man is believed to be 26 years old and from Chartwell.
He said the man is believed to have gone missing at 11.30pm on New Year’s Day while crossing over the pipeline on the Jukskei River in the vicinity near Fourways.
“An ongoing extensive search by the SAPS, SAPS Water Policing, and Diving Services, SAPS K9 Search and Rescue, Johannesburg Fire and Rescue Services aquatic rescue unit, and SARZA, launched on the morning of January 2, has found no trace of the man who was reportedly swept off a pipeline he may have been using to cross over the Jukskei River during a flash flood,” Potgieter said.
He said the NSRI Gauteng swift water rescue team joined in the search on Sunday morning, with NSRI Gauteng swift water rescuers divided into teams joining police, SARZA and Fire and Rescue Services in the extensive ongoing search efforts along the Jukskei River and along the Klein Jukskei River searching in the directions of Fourways, Chartwell, Broadacres and Steyn City.
“A police helicopter has been deployed to assist in this ongoing search operation, 20 km of river were covered on Sunday and there remains no signs of the missing man.
"Thoughts, care, and compassion are with the families of the missing man in this difficult time," NSRI said.
Police and emergency services are continuing in ongoing search efforts,” Potgieter said.
The NSRI is appealing to the public not to cross low-lying bridges or roadways submerged by water on rivers swollen by heavy rainfalls that are being experienced around the country.