Photo Credit: SAPS
FREE STATE community members have been urged to practice water safety following the drowning of five people in a river during religious rituals on Saturday, 12 March.
Captain Stephen Thakeng said at about 1.30pm, Wesselsbron cops were informed about people who had drowned in the Vet River on the R719 Wesselsbron road.
“On arrival, a female witness was at the scene. She alleged that a mother was holding her 12-year-old daughter while standing in the river during a ritual when the child was swept away.”
“Four men attempted to save the child and also drowned,” Thakeng said.
He said divers were summoned to the scene and the bodies were retrieved from the river.
