‘HE DIED A HERO’ - But Jim se Bos mom slams authorities for her son’s tragic death

A MOTHER’S world was shattered in a matter of minutes when her son attempted to save his friend, only for both boys to vanish beneath the water in a tragedy that has left two families broken.

The incident occurred on 8 February after two minors drowned in a dam in the Jim Se Bos informal settlement.

Tasha Sebastiaan told the Daily Voice that her son, Sebastiaan Absalom Sebastiaan, 12, and his nine-year-old friend went to play while she was busy washing clothes.

The two laaities were playing on a surfboard in the dam before the other one fell in, shouting at Sebastiaan that he couldn’t swim. Sebastiaan then went into the dam to try to save his friend.

She explained: “It was half an hour or fifty minutes later, one of the boys came to scream, ‘Aunty Tasha, Aunty Tasha, Sebastiaan is drowning’.

“I ran to the dam, and when I got there, I was crying, and I was so confused, I jumped into the dam, but some people took me out. 

“Then, more people came trying to search. One of the men jumped in because we waited for the police divers, but they never came.”

She explained that ambulance personnel arrived first on the scene, and thereafter, fire and rescue services.

The mom added: “The other emergency services team then started searching for the children. I was so out of it, I just remembered that they first got the other boy, and he was still breathing and moving his hand. 

“After two or three hours, they found my boy, but it was too late for him.

“The ambulance didn’t even do mouth-to-mouth, nothing, because they said they didn’t have equipment. If the police divers were here on time, they could’ve saved our children.”

Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk previously reported that SAPS Western Cape Water Policing and Diving Services retrieved the bodies from the murky water. 

However, following the mother’s claims, he confirmed that both boys were taken out of the dam by the community.

Van Wyk said: “Kindly be advised that both bodies were taken out by the community. When SAPS divers arrived, both bodies were taken out of the dam already.

“Both were declared deceased and taken to the mortuary by two separate ambulances.”

Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness (WCDHC) spokesperson Shimoney Regter said that at this stage, EMS has not received a formal complaint from the mother.

Regter said: “EMS personnel assessed both children and found that they showed no signs of life at the time of assessment. The children were declared deceased on scene by qualified EMS personnel.

“All WCDHW EMS vehicles are licensed in line with the Western Cape Ambulance Act of 2012 and are equipped according to prescribed standards. All EMS practitioners are appropriately trained, registered and provide care within approved clinical protocols.”