A seven-year-old boy who went missing in the Peddie area on Saturday has been found safe and unharmed.
Police said that Peddie SAPS were alerted at around 8pm on Saturday by local government councilor that the boy went missing “while hunting”.
“The SAPS and community members immediately got together and started searching for the child. Women from the community braved the weather and sat on the mountain praying and anxiously waiting for news on the missing child,” said police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender.
“As the area is very dense and the terrain precipitous and craggy, K9 search and Rescue Dog handlers from Cradock and East London were mobilised, and at 04:00 this morning (Sunday) the specialist handlers arrived with their four legged partners and began their search,” she said.
Govender said that one of the boys who was with the missing child assisted the police and identified the area where they had lost contact with each other.
“Initially the screams for help were faint and as they moved closer to the river, the screams for help from the missing child grew louder. The child was located by the team and a member of the community got into the chilly river and swam across to the cliff under mountains where the child was,” Govender said.
She said the boy is safely reunited with his family.
