Tshwane Emergency Services have launched a search operation for a man who was swept away by a river in Centurion after jumping into the water to evade security guards near Supersport Park Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Spokesperson for Emergency Services Lindsay Mnguni said the man who ran into the river after being chased by security guards is presumed to have been swept away by the river.
Personnel from the City of Tshwane's Energy Services Department, fire rescue operation division, and the SAPS are working together to locate the missing individual.
Mnguni said the search teams returned to the river yesterday to continue the search, but the river levels remain unsafe due to ongoing rain upstream.
“They'll keep monitoring and determine if the river becomes safe to enter, then they'll do the search,” he said.
The operation follows after the emergency services department responded to multiple flood-related incidents on December 20 in Centurion, rescuing several individuals and recovering two bodies.
Mnguni said the first incident occurred at 21:45 at the corner of Rabie Street and End Street, where firefighters rescued two people from a car stuck in the river. Both occupants were unharmed.
Firefighters rescued two occupants from a car that was stuck in the river at the corner of Albert Street and Nellmapius Drive in Irene Country Estate at 22:10, with both occupants unharmed.
A drowning incident occurred in Lenchen Street and West Street, near the Supersport Park Cricket Stadium, where firefighters, rescuers, and divers recovered the bodies of a motorcyclist and a car driver swept away by strong river currents.
In a separate incident, firefighters rescued a patient who was holding onto a lamp pole engulfed by overflowing waters near the Centurion Lake Hotel, with the patient uninjured.
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