The bodies of two men believed to be maintenance workers were recovered from a sewage pit behind a hotel in Cape Town on Tuesday evening.
According to Western Cape police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, the bodies of the men, aged 22 and 52, were found in a sewage pit behind a hotel in the V&A Waterfront.
“Table Bay Harbour police have opened a death inquest case for investigation after bodies of two men aged 22 and 52 were found last night in a sewage pit behind a hotel in the Waterfront.
“The circumstances surrounding this incident are being investigated.”
According to information on the Cape Town Safety WhatsApp group, the victims were maintenance workers.
The City's Fire & Rescue Service were alerted to the incident just after 6pm.
They were informed that two maintenance workers were in the pit at East Pier Road at the V&A Waterfront.
Several City resources, including Epping Training Hazmat Response team, Spilltech and ER24, were dispatched to the scene.
Due to the toxic gases where the bodies were situated, rescuers had to wear protective gear before being hooked onto an airline and lowered into the pit by a rope system.
The first body was retrieved at 10.23pm and the second just after midnight.
Meanwhile, the City says reports of a person stuck in a drain in Goodwood a week ago is unfounded.
Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for City Fire & Rescue Service, says they received an emergency call just after 1pm on 29 December 2020 of a man allegedly in the storm water drain in Smith Street, Goodwood.
“Fire crews from Goodwood and Bellville were dispatched to the scene. Witnesses reported that there was a man who claimed he’d been in the drain for two days and he was trying to find another exit deeper down in the drain as the current exit point was too small for him to surface,” says Carelse.
“The crews searched the storm water drains for several hours and eventually terminated the operation. At no stage did they hear/see the person.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za