By Celani Sikhakhane
The family of three that went missing on New Year’s Day has been found in the river outside Ladysmith on the N11, stuck in the wreckage of their Toyota SUV.
The decomposed bodies of David Hlongwane and his wife Andiswa Zikode were found with their two-year-old son Mesuli on Saturday by road construction workers.
Family spokesperson Celani Mahlobo said that they are glad that at last their bodies had been found.
“I got a call on Saturday from a guy who worked for the construction company. He told me that his team had found three dead people in the car.
“He said that a badly damaged car was in the river and they were able to recognise it after the water had come down,” said Mahlobo.
He said they are preparing for their funeral to take place on Wednesday.
The Hlongwanes were at their rural family home in Bergville for the December holidays. They left Bergville on 1 January at around 7.30 pm to drive to Vryheid, where they stayed for work.
David was a train driver working for Transnet.
On the weekend of New Year’s Day, Ladysmith experienced heavy rains that had started on Christmas Eve.
Those rains have already killed more than 22 people in Ladysmith after they swept away vehicles that were travelling on the N11. Seven people from the Msimango family were killed during those deadly floods.
Amos Nonyana from Transnet said that they were shocked to learn about the death of David Hlongwane and his family in this manner.
“I still don’t believe this because we had hoped that they would be found alive after going missing for over 10 days.
“Just imagine the pain they went through after their car was swept away by floods and threw the vehicle in the river. This is so painful,” he said.
Pictured above: The bodies of train driver David Hlongwane, his wife Andiswa Zikode, and their two-year-old son Mesuli were found in a river outside Ladysmith.
Image source: Supplied
