THE body of 14-year-old Hurney Jansen has been found more than 60 hours after he was swept away by a raging river south of Rehoboth.
An uncle, Wandy van Wyk, confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that Hurney’s body was found by people using sniffer dogs who were searching close to the scene where two other family members drowned on Friday night. “He was found lying against a tree stump.The body does not look well.He must have hit a lot of rocks down the river …However,we can take comfort …that we have found him and can at least bury him with the others,” said Van Wyk.The remains of Hurney, Fredrika ‘Meide’ van Wyk (60) and Brigitte ‘Bayte’ van Wyk (33), were to be transported to Windhoek today.The bodies are being brought to the capital for an autopsy.The three died after the bakkie in which they were travelling was swept away by a river south of the farm Kobos, on the road to Klein-Aub, at around 09h30 on Friday night.The driver, Cedric van Wyk, was able to swim out with his son, Giovanni van Wyk (10), but lost his wife Brigitte and mother Fredrika who were still in the bakkie when the raging river swept it off the bridge.His daughter Genevieve (13) and Hurney, son of his brother-in-law, were also swept away.The girl was found almost two hours later, clinging to a tree seven kilometres downstream.Wandy van Wyk said they would wait until the autopsy was done before deciding on funeral arrangements.Van Wyk and Gerald Cloete were some of the first people to arrive on the spot when Cedric telephoned them after the accident.Cloete told The Namibian that a group of tourists came upon the accident and that was how Cedric was able to make a call to Rehoboth.The tourists also helped to recover the two women’s bodies from the vehicle, which had rolled several times after it fell off the bridge.They were transported back to Rehoboth on Wandy’s bakkie after Police took too long to do that.The search team had covered up to 20 kilometres downstream but the continuous heavy rain was making it difficult for them over the weekend.The rain had subsided by yesterday.”He was found lying against a tree stump.The body does not look well.He must have hit a lot of rocks down the river …However,we can take comfort …that we have found him and can at least bury him with the others,” said Van Wyk.The remains of Hurney, Fredrika ‘Meide’ van Wyk (60) and Brigitte ‘Bayte’ van Wyk (33), were to be transported to Windhoek today. The bodies are being brought to the capital for an autopsy.The three died after the bakkie in which they were travelling was swept away by a river south of the farm Kobos, on the road to Klein-Aub, at around 09h30 on Friday night.The driver, Cedric van Wyk, was able to swim out with his son, Giovanni van Wyk (10), but lost his wife Brigitte and mother Fredrika who were still in the bakkie when the raging river swept it off the bridge.His daughter Genevieve (13) and Hurney, son of his brother-in-law, were also swept away.The girl was found almost two hours later, clinging to a tree seven kilometres downstream.Wandy van Wyk said they would wait until the autopsy was done before deciding on funeral arrangements.Van Wyk and Gerald Cloete were some of the first people to arrive on the spot when Cedric telephoned them after the accident.Cloete told The Namibian that a group of tourists came upon the accident and that was how Cedric was able to make a call to Rehoboth.The tourists also helped to recover the two women’s bodies from the vehicle, which had rolled several times after it fell off the bridge.They were transported back to Rehoboth on Wandy’s bakkie after Police took too long to do that.The search team had covered up to 20 kilometres downstream but the continuous heavy rain was making it difficult for them over the weekend.The rain had subsided by yesterday.
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