Kids severed hands found in plastic bag on Umgeni River bank

Severed hands of at least two children were found on the banks of the Umgeni River near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal, according to a media report.

According to the Witness newspaper workers contracted to clean up the river near the Mphophomeni township near Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands made the gruesome discovery.

The hands, believed to belong to a one-year old and a child of about four or five, were found by worker Sabelo Sibiya when he went to remove a red plastic bag.

"When I grabbed the plastic bag using a panga, a left hand fell out of the plastic bag," he was quoted as saying.

Herbs and bark, used in traditional medicine, were found along with the hands.

The newspaper quoted an unnamed police source as saying that the hands appeared to have been detached from the respective bodies for more than a week.