An investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the boating accident at Witbank dam in Mpumalanga that left six people dead, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) said on Monday.
“Samsa in collaboration with the SAPS Waterwing has launched an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding [Friday’s] boating accident,” said spokeswoman Prudence Mbatha.
Samsa’s head of Centre for Ships, Sobantu Tilayi said: “We have two of our people on site, carrying out the investigations into the integrity of the vessel and other circumstances surrounding the vessel’s accident”.
“The ferry was constructed of fibreglass [and] tipped over at 1.30pm following an imbalance created by people on board who had gone to the one side of the vessel following an equipment breakdown.”
The accident happened while 21 people were celebrating a Christmas party on a double-decker leisure boat when it sank at Barham Bay, a resort on the dam.
Two men and four women drowned. Fifteen people were able to make it to shore and sustained only minor injuries. Some fishermen rushed into the water to help.
A short while after the boat sank, the bodies of two women were discovered.
About an hour later the bodies of two women and a man were brought to the surface.
Almost exactly 24 hours later the body of a man missing since the accident was found.
[SAPA]