Heart-rending tales of flood terror

“I begged her to cling to the tree. I urged her not to give up, but she was screaming and shouting there was a snake in the water and it was coming for her, and then she was gone.”

These were the words of 16-year-old Milani Mdlalo, whose best friend and schoolmate Ahlumile Nokhwabuza died in the floods that hit the Eastern Cape last week.

Milani, classmate Khanya Vava, 18, and grade 9 pupil Sixolise Mbelebele, 20, clung to trees for six hours after their friend was swept away down the raging Mthatha River until they were rescued.

Ahlumile’s death brings the latest toll to 90.

The two friends from the Slovo Park and Mandela informal settlements in Mthatha West were among 13 pupils from Jumba Senior Secondary travelling to school in their scholar transport bus last Tuesday when the vehicle was swept into the river as its driver tried to cross a bridge on the R61 near Efata School in Mthatha.

Milani and Ahlumile, both 16 and in grade 10, had been best friends since 2021, when they were in grade 6.

Those who died with Ahlumile have been identified as Lihle Gudla, Alive Vava, who was Khanya’s cousin, Thabisile Khumalo and Ongeziwe Mtyhude — both Sixolise’s cousins — Thandile Jodo, Liyema Khobo and Siyavuya Mkhatshwana.

Mihlali Makeleni and Simbongile Nontwana are still missing, feared drowned.

On Tuesday, a week after their horrifying ordeal, the three survivors told how they had clung desperately to trees after their bus went under the water.

Milani said everything started going wrong when the bus stalled on the bridge just before 6am.

When the driver, believed to be Mihlali’s father, tried to restart the engine, it was dead.

“We tried calling our parents for help. Then the bus was dragged and pushed over the bridge headfirst and the windows broke,” Milani said.

“I suggested we jump out, but we were told the water might get inside if we did that.

“We then decided to jump out of the smashed back window and immediately got swept away.

“I grabbed Ahlumile and told her to hold onto a tree, but then I lost my grip and I was dragged downstream. Then I grabbed another tree.”

We then decided to jump out of the smashed back window and immediately got swept away.

When dawn broke a crowd quickly gathered on the river bank and urged the pupils to hang on, saying help would come.

But then tragedy struck. Her best friend started yelling and crying that there was a snake swimming towards her.

“I shouted over the sound of the crashing water to the people that Ahlumile was seeing a snake.

“By the time I looked back, she was gone. I did not see the snake.”

Eventually the three survivors were saved by divers who came for them in a boat.

Milani said at one point she was tempted to let go but her two schoolmates encouraged her, urging her to remain strong and promising help would come.

At one point, she found herself crying for her mother.

“By the time we were rescued my hands and fingers were so cold I couldn’t even remove my own clothing.”

Like Milani, Khanya could not swim. He also jumped out of the bus through the smashed back window and was pushed downstream by the strong current.

Sixolise was holding onto a tree and Khanya managed to grab his legs as he was being swept by.

He was frantic about his younger cousin, Alive.

He shouted her name but there was no response. He hoped she was also clinging to a tree, awaiting rescue, further downstream.

“I wanted to give up but Sixolise told me not to.

“I was panicking because I could not see Alive anywhere.

“A lot was going through my mind. I was asking myself if I’d survive this and what would my mother do if I died.

“Though her body has since been recovered, losing Alive is a wound that will never heal.”

Sixolise, who grew up in Ngqeleni, said the near-death experience had transported him back to the time when he almost drowned while fishing in the sea alone as a 10-year-old.

He slipped and fell into the water but was able to struggle to safety.

Over the years, he has not only learnt how to swim but has saved many people from drowning.

“I was wondering if this was the day I would die.

“When I jumped out the bus I did not fight the current. I allowed the water to take me downstream until I found a tree. But the water was so cold.”

He believes if help had come sooner, many of their schoolmates may have been saved. Now he is determined to become a professional lifeguard after finishing school.

He said Mihlali, who died in the flood, had been one of his best friends.

They were sitting at the back of the bus together when it was dragged off the bridge by floodwaters and both managed to jump out the back window.

That was the last time he saw his friend.

He said without the words of encouragement from the crowd on the bank the three would probably have given up the fight to survive.

He is still grieving and in shock over his friend’s death, despite Mihlali being a strong swimmer.

Though they were fighting against rising water levels he never lost hope that help would come, so he kept on encouraging the other two survivors to hang on.

“Those onlookers played a huge role in keeping us alive.

“It is through God that we are still alive today, the three of us.

“But if we had divers in Mthatha, maybe the others would still be alive too.”

Milani’s mother Nontsikelelo Mdlalo said she was relieved her child had survived this “deeply traumatic experience”. However, she is full of grief for the many others who were not saved.

Sixolise’s father Mthembeni Notyendela said when he heard about the bus accident he rushed to the scene.

When he got there and could not see his son he joined a group of people walking downstream. That was when he saw a small crowd talking to three people trapped in the water. Initially, he did not know his son was among them.

“We were just hoping that one of the pupils could be rescued so we could get some direction.

“I am happy he is now safe, but he is not OK, though he has returned to school for classes.”

Jumba principal Fezile Fuzile said the school would host a memorial service for the missing and dead on Wednesday.

The school community was deep in mourning, with even teachers needing counselling.

Daily Dispatch