News24 | Two siblings drown in river in Mpumalanga

A river in Dientjie where two siblings lost their lives.

Two siblings, aged two and eight, died in a drowning accident during a family outing on Saturday.

According to the police, the family had stopped along a river near a road while travelling from Bushbuckridge to Dientjie in Mpumalanga.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Donald Mdhluli said the parents were with their three children when they parked their car on a main road and walked along the river.

Mdhluli added that at some point, the father went to the opposite side of the river to collect water when he heard his wife calling for help.

“The distance they walked was about 500m from the main road. It is said that it was when the man was fetching water that the drowning occurred,” he said.

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It was alleged that one of the children slipped on pond scum while standing on a rock and fell into the river. When the other tried to help, he suffered the same fate.

Their eldest child, a 10-year-old, also tried to help but fell in.

“The woman called for help, then the man ran quickly,” said Mdhluli.

“The man, who is a professional doctor, managed to pull out one of the children and performed first aid on the child.”

Mdhluli said emergency medical personnel were alerted and immediately rushed to the scene.

“However, on arrival, the two children were unfortunately pronounced dead.”