A desperate search is ongoing in the Slanghoek area of the Western Cape after a young woman was swept away by floodwaters during severe weather over the weekend.
Julene van Wyk, 24, is believed to have been caught in a strong river current while attempting to cross a low-lying bridge on Saturday afternoon. She was crossing with her sister when the water surged.
Surviving sister, whose testimony was captured in a recording, recounted the terrifying moments: “I still standing on my own feet then I try to jump into gra [grass/safety?] when I have the water come in between us… then we make a split… then I see me I go far then she’s still on top of me… she was just calling me my name… Julene, Julene… help for help… I call her back… before I get out of the river she call me… but in the middle of something she no don’t call me anymore… she just come quiet… then I see her asleep on her back… when I come back I don’t see her… I’m broken inside, very broken.”
The another family member, added that their home feels emptier now. “It’s quiet, quiet, quiet, just like last night,” he said. “Every time I knock the door, I call her name… I forgot, oh Julene is not here… even asking where’s my food I calling Julene… oh my hopes, I hope she he is they will get their life… even my boy even he can’t go even school today.”
Julene’s disappearance comes just four months after the tragic loss of her mother to cancer, compounding the family’s grief.
As the search enters its third day, hope of finding Julene alive remains, but the task is challenging. The Rural and Farm Workers Development Organisation (RFWDO) has called for additional support, highlighting the lack of resources available in rural areas compared to urban centers like Cape Town.
“We plead to the MEC of social development… to just send some people to to to this family because they are in real need of social psychosocial support, trauma counseling,” an RFWDO representative stated. They noted the deployment of a specialist dog from George but lamented the absence of drones, helicopters, or other advanced search equipment typically used in more populated areas.
The representative urged authorities not to give up. “I really want to to to plea and to urge and ask the police out of my heart not to give up the search. They must search until they get there, just for this family to get closure.”
The search operation, involving local authorities and volunteers, continues in the hope of finding Julene van Wyk.
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