Three Eastern Cape learners have drowned in separate incidents on Wednesday reported by the provincial Education Department.
Department spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima, said that Education MEC, Mlungisi Mvoko, was shocked to learn of the news of the drownings Wednesday in the Flagstaff area and also at a village near Mount Frere.
He says in one incident two 13-year-old boys, Yanga Solumbambo and Azela Mngcilo, from the OR Tambo Coastal District, drowned while swimming in a dam at Bukazi Village.
He said the third learner, 11-year-old Asiphe Buso, from the Mzamo Primary School in the Alfred Nzo West District, drowned while trying to cross a bridge over a fast-flowing river near Elubhacweni Village at Mount Frere.
Buso was kept out of school due to the rain but was later sent on an errand when she got swept away from a makeshift bridge.
Mtima said even though both incidents happened after school, the Department is providing support to the families of the children.
On Monday when heavy rains lashed the area another 12-year-old girl drowned when she tried to cross a low-lying bridge over a fast-flowing river in a village near Mount Frere.
