Authorities in South Africa are investigating the deaths of three police officers who had been missing for six days after their bodies were discovered in a river near Johannesburg.
Constables Boipelo Senoge, 20, Cebekhulu Linda, 24, and Keamogetswe Buys, 30, were last seen leaving a petrol station last Wednesday. Their bodies were found by divers in the Hennops River, approximately 70 kilometres (43 miles) from where they were last seen. The white VW Polo they were travelling in was recovered from the same river on Thursday.
While police initially indicated they were treating the case as a “possible hijacking,” the national police chief, General Fannie Masemola, told journalists on Thursday that the preliminary assessment suggests it “looks like an accident,” pending the conclusion of a forensic investigation.
The three constables were travelling from Free State province to Limpopo province. Their vehicle’s tracking device and their mobile phones had been switched off since their disappearance.
A search team had been conducting an extensive search across the Gauteng, Free State, and Limpopo provinces. Parts of a vehicle believed to be the VW Polo were eventually found, leading investigators to the Hennops River in the Centurion area, where a Renault Kangoo van was also discovered nearby on the riverbank. Two other bodies were found in the vicinity.
On Thursday, the VW Polo was successfully pulled from the river.
Along with the three constables, divers also recovered the body of a police employee, who has not been named, and who had been driving the Renault van, according to General Masemola. He added that a fifth body, which was decomposed, had also been found but had not yet been identified. It remains unclear if these additional discoveries are linked to the deaths of the police officers.
The disappearance of the three constables had been closely followed by the South African public, with widespread prayers circulating on social media for their safe return. Following the discovery of their bodies, grieving loved ones gathered along the banks of the Hennops River, holding candles.
Speaking near the recovery site, General Masemola urged caution against speculation, stating, “We need to give the investigation a space. At the end of the day we can’t rule out anything, but we can’t conclusively say this is what happened… At this stage it looks like an accident until we finalise the forensics.”
This marks a shift in tone from comments made by the commissioner on Sunday, when he had warned those potentially involved in a kidnapping, saying, “We cannot have criminals undermine the authority of the state by kidnapping three police officers. This is just a stern warning to those behind this incident, either you hand yourselves over, or we will fetch you ourselves.
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