Cape Town – The search for six-year-old Khayalethu Magadla, who fell down a manhole while playing with friends last Sunday, is continuing, with reports saying the City of Joburg Emergency Services (EMS) have about 6km to go in search for him.
Khayalethu was reportedly playing with his friends in Dlamini Park in Soweto when he fell into the open hole.
Since the incident happened, community members and the EMS have made numerous efforts to find the boy with no luck.
As a last resort, EMS announced its decision to introduce hi-tech robots to the search operations last week.
However, there has been no sign of Khayalethu.
EWN reported that it was Khayalethu’s birthday on Monday and his father Kholekile Magadla remained hopeful that his body would be found.
Kholekile shared what he would have said to his son, as they would be celebrating his sixth birthday.
“I would have said to him happy birthday boy, and told him daddy loves him very much as always and maybe give him one rand because that’s the money he knew,” the report quoted Kholekile as saying.
In a statement on Twitter, City of Johannesburg EMS spokesperson, Robert Malauzi said they will be exploring four other manholes along the pipeline of the manhole where the boy reportedly fell.
@CityofJoburgEMS Search of a 6 year old boy who slipped and fell into a manhole continues this evening using a Robot,now covered all the 3 manholes from were the incident occurred on Sunday we hope to locate him before we get to the last manhole @CoJPublicSafety @CityofJoburgZA pic.twitter.com/xhRQJRRMRp
— Cojems Spokesperson (@RobertMulaudzi) June 17, 2022
@CityofJoburgEMS Search of a 6 year old boy who slipped and fell into a manhole continues this evening using a Robot,now covered all the 3 manholes from were the incident occurred on Sunday we hope to locate him before we get to the last manhole @CoJPublicSafety @CityofJoburgZA pic.twitter.com/xhRQJRRMRp
— Cojems Spokesperson (@RobertMulaudzi) June 17, 2022
“We will also be deploying a floating boat fitted with under water camera and camera on the surface which is giving us 360 view of the pipeline. We are also deploying our technicians along the pipeline using an external air supply system,” said Mulaudzi
We will also deploying a floating boat fitted with under water camera and camera on the surface which is giving us 360 view of the pipeline,we are also deploying our Technicians along the pipeline using external air supply system @CityofJoburgEMS @CoJPublicSafety @CityofJoburgZA
— Cojems Spokesperson (@RobertMulaudzi) June 19, 2022
“This continues operation will remove any uncertainty along the pipeline and also lead us to the Split Chamber were we hope and believe that if we don’t locate him along the pipeline we will be able to locate him at Split Chamber”
Mulaudzi said they hoped to complete the search and provide the family closure.
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Picture: Twitter/ @RobertMulaudzi
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Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
