A young boy’s school holidays ended in tragedy when he drowned in a dam in Delft.
Israel Adams, seven, lost his life in the make-shift dam behind a construction site near Tsau Street on Monday.
His older brother, Isaac Adams, 12, says Israel was playing at the dam with a tjommie around 4pm when another boy came to tell him that his boetie got stuck in the middle of the dam.
“My broertjie en ‘n ander klong het by die dam gaan speel. He was on an old surfboard and floated to the deep end,” Isaac explains.
“I came there and got in to help him, when I came up he was already under the water.”
The hartseer boetie says he searched for Israel under the water, but he couldn’t save him.
“I went down a few times but I couldn’t go to the deep end because there was a lot of mud,” he adds.
Speaking from their home in Leiden, mom Wilamrie, 27, tells the Daily Voice she ran to the scene when the children came to call her about her son.
“When I got there people from the area were trying to look for him, I don’t know what happened,” she says, before bursting into tears.
The Vergenoegd Primary School learner was supposed to be visiting his father in Wesbank at the time of the incident.
Spokesperson Jermaine Carelse confirmed that the City’s Fire and Rescue Services received the call for help at approximately 5.45pm of a missing person, suspected to have drowned.
“Crews from Mfuleni, Belhar and Bellville were on the scene, the firefighters set up the portable lighting unit to increase visibility,” Carelse says.
“Police divers found the body of the male minor, seven years old, on their second attempt of sweeping the area at 8.30pm.”
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi adds: “The victim was declared deceased on the scene by the medical personnel.
“Delft police registered an inquest for further investigation.”
It is not clear if it is a private or government-owned construction site.
The City of Cape Town did not respond to queries about the incident at the time of publish.
A devastated Isaac says he will miss his klein brother as they did alles together.
“Ek gaan hom baie mis, ons het altyd games gespeel. He is now in the Lord’s hands.”