A Motswana woman who died in a flooded river in South Africa was laid to rest in Ntlhantlhe village this morning (Thursday) amid emotional scenes as harrowing details of the tragic incident were revealed.
Refilwe Khwinana’s badly decomposed body was retrieved and airlifted by a police helicopter from a riverine debris almost a week after she was swept away in a raging storm.
The 29-year-old woman was among the three flood victims who were reported missing last week after an Uber sedan they were traveling in was swept away by floods in South Africa’s Ekurhuleni.
The other occupants, the Uber driver and Khwinana’s best friend have since been laid to rest in South Africa and Serowe respectively.
A search party involving police, overnight fire and emergency services was deployed after the violent floods swept away the car they were in, causing it to land in a river.
The three were said to have been on a low-lying bridge in a flooded Midstream Ridge Drive, between Midstream and Olifantsfontein, on a Saturday when the water dragged the car for about 50 meters, causing it to flip over and land in a nearby river.
A relative who did not want to be named told The Voice this morning that Khinwana had travelled to South Africa with her friend as usual on a business trip.
“She met her tragic death in South Africa last Saturday at around 3am. We received a voice note from her notifying us that she was about to drown in a river as the vehicle they were using was being swept away by the flood” .
According to Mamanki Letebele, the Uber driver’s sister, the bridge was so low that it was easy for the water to flood through.
“It’s just unfortunate that I lost my brother and the other two passengers we were with. The problem is that the bridge is clogged with debris, so the water ends up flooding on us. They did not know that the road was this bad, had they known they would not have used it,” she said in a television interview .
Khwinana’s badly decomposed body was found six days after the tragedy while her friend’s body was found three days into the search and the Uber driver was found after four days.
