By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Rescuers were looking for more bodies on Monday after 14 people, mostly churchgoers were killed and many others went missing when a flash flood hit the city of Johannesburg on Saturday.
A group of 33 worshippers had joined church rituals on the banks of the Jukskei river when the flooding struck Saturday,
Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services (EMS) said they were searching for a group of people after they were swept away in Alexandra.
Two bodies were recovered on Saturday, with another 12 recovered on Sunday.
EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said crews continued the search for the remaining missing people.
“Two people were swept away and confirmed dead” at the scene on Saturday, while 12 more bodies had since been found, he said.
People have free access to rivers and “practice their religion where they wish,” said Mulaudzi.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon said that as many as 18 people may have been swept away in the flash flood.
On Saturday, the rescue crew located the bodies of a woman and a teenage girl. Another woman was rescued near Arkwright Avenue and taken to hospital.
On Sunday, they recovered the bodies of three men, six women, a girl, a boy, and a toddler.
“It has not been ruled out that one or more cases may not be related to the church baptism and may be from isolated incidents that had not been reported. Investigations are continuing,” said Lambinon.
Sudden surges of water are common in this part of Johannesburg, where storms take place almost every night during the southern summer.