December 5 According to an AFP report on December 4, the emergency department said on the 4th that flash floods caused by heavy rains had killed at least 14 people in Johannesburg, South Africa, and some others were still missing when they were attending a religious ceremony.
According to the report, Robert Murauzi, a spokesman for the Johannesburg City Emergency Management Agency, said that 33 believers were attending religious ceremonies on the banks of the Xake River when the flood hit on the 3rd.
Murauzi said that after the discovery of five more bodies, the number of nine deaths announced earlier increased. He also said that it is not possible to provide the exact number of missing persons at this time.
Murauzi said that the clergy who presided over baptism and other ceremonies at that time survived.
He said that at the time of the incident, “one of them were washed away by the flood on the spot and confirmed dead”, and then 12 more bodies were found.
Rescue workers and firefighters are still searching for missing persons, but the Emergency Management Agency said that the chances of finding survivors are getting slimmer and less.
In this area of Johannesburg, water level surges are common. In summer, there will be heavy rain here almost every night.
Murazi said that people have free access to the river, “hold religious ceremonies where they want, but we must step up our propaganda to avoid the recurrence of such tragedies.”
