104-year-old man 'vanished like paper taken by air'

Police were on Wednesday still trying to piece together how a 104-year-old man disappeared from his village in Ga-Chipana near Polokwane.

"It is like a paper taken by air … It happened very mysteriously‚" said Lieutenant Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe.

The elderly man‚ Nang Kleinboy Mashilo‚ who is a traditional healer‚ was last seen by his family on Friday at around 7am when he left his home to collect herbs in the nearby bushes.

"According to the police preliminary investigations‚ the victim was in the company of a 77-year-old man from the same village who alleged they went separate [their] ways after collecting the herbs‚" said Ngoepe.

But the man never returned home.

"We have combed the area and he is nowhere to be found but we have deployed our relevant resources and we are working around the clock to try and find him‚" he added.

Ngoepe said they had not ruled out foul play in the man's disappearance.

"It is not clear at this stage but it is too early to say‚" he added.