Off Road Rescue Unit - Emergency Call-out Reports

Off-Road Rescue Unit - Emergency Incidents Report - 2006
No.	Incident / Location	Date	What Happened
70/2006	Search for missing motorist Sasolburg to Randfontein	30 Dec	An 85-y-o motorist returning from Sasolburg to Pretoria phoned from Randfontein to say that he was lost. His cell phone was later switched off and his car was seen being driven, but not by him. The SAPS called on the Unit to assist with a search along the roadside from Sasolburg to Randfontein, but nothing was found.
69/2006	Continued search for body Johannesburg North-West	29 Dec	The search continued for the drowned man along the banks of the Jukskei River through to the Diepsloot Nature Reserve without anything being found. Read more about this call-out here.
68/2006	Continued search for body Johannesburg North-West	28 Dec	The search continued for the drowned man along the banks of the Jukskei River through to the Diepsloot Nature Reserve without anything being found.
67/2006	Continued search for body Johannesburg North	27 Dec	The search for the drowned man's body continued downstream in the Jukskei River through Dainfern without success.
66/2006	Man's body seen in river Rivonia, Johannesburg	26 Dec	A man had gone across the road from his house to watch the Braamfontein Spruit in flood. He saw the body of a man going past in the spate and called the police, who in turn called on ORRU for assistance. A foot search was launched down both banks of the river for eight kilometres without finding anything.
65/2006	Missing hijack victim Vaal Triangle	24 Dec	The SAPS called on the Unit to assist to locate a woman who went missing after she was hijacked. A team was scrambled but fortunately the victim was found alive and uninjured.
64/2006	People washed away in floods Soweto, Johannesburg	23 Dec	The SAPS called out the Unit to assist to recover people and vehicles washed downstream in flooded rivers in Soweto after heavy thunderstorms in the area. Members travelled into Soweto and assisted the police and EMS units. Vehicles that had been washed off roads were towed out by members who also provided 4x4 access to riverbanks and illumination for the rescue and recovery activities.
63/2006	Missing 15-year-old youth Elandsfontein, Midrand	18 Dec	The missing 15-year-old youth had still not been found and a number of ORRU teams were called out to search a wide area in Midrand. Read more about this call-out here.
62/2006	Missing 15-year-old youth Elandsfontein, Midrand	14 Dec	A 15-year-old autistic boy had gone off riding his bicycle and had not returned. Police called ORRU for assistance and three cars responded and searched the area in Olifantsfontein without success.
61/2006	Suicidal man missing Eldorado Park, Gauteng	11 Dec	A suicidal father went missing in the Eldorado Park area, and the SAPS called the unit to assist in searching for him. A Code Yellow was issued, but the man was found in a hospital before the team was deployed.
60/2006	Injured hiker Magaliesberg, Northwest Province	01 Dec	A 14-year-old boy had fallen while hiking with a school group in the Tonquani Gorge area at Mountain Sanctuary Park in the Magaliesberg. ORRU was asked to assist with his rescue. Read more about this call-out here.
59/2006	Missing suicidal youth Naturena, Johannesburg	21 Nov	Police called the Rescue Unit for assistance on Tuesday night after a 16-year-old male had gone missing and a suicide note had been found at his home. Read more about this call-out here.
58/2006	Farm fire Cullinan, Gauteng	17 Oct	At 20h45, the unit received an urgent call from the police for assistance with a large fire that was burning across farms in the Cullinan area, 35km east of Pretoria. One person had already been killed in the blaze, with others missing. Ten minutes later a Code Red was issued for teams to rendezvous at the Shell Ultra City in Midrand, with additional information being supplied en route. Before the teams could reach the area 90km from base, police and fire-fighters on the scene brought the blaze under control. Apart from the one fatality, the four missing people had been found - all badly burnt.
57/2006	Missing 3-year-old toddler Eldorado Park, Gauteng	17 Oct	ORRU received a call for help from the police to assist to search for a 3-year-old female toddler who was missing in Eldorado Park in the same area as that where a child had been murdered previously. A Code Yellow was sent out at 20h19 for members' responses, but before a Code Red could be issued, the child was located unharmed.
56/2006	Abducted 16-year-old girl Geduld, Gauteng	13 Oct	At 11:45, a Code Yellow was sent out to ORRU members advising that the SAPS required assistance in a search of farmland on the Far East Rand, as a 16-year-old white female had been abducted. Read more about this call-out here.
55/2006	Missing light aircraft Himeville, KwaZulu-Natal	10 Oct	A light aircraft had gone missing in bad weather in the Sani Pass, Himeville area in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg Mountains. At 20h30 the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre scrambled the Off Road Rescue Unit for assistance. A four-car search and rescue team was assembled for a possible 00h00 departure and arrival in the area 400km away at first light. The ARCC delayed the call-out and in the morning the wreckage of the plane was found with no survivors.
54/2006	Woman gambler missing Johannesburg, Gauteng	07 Oct	On Saturday night the Off-Road Rescue Unit received calls from South African Police Services Inspector Stroppie Grobbelaar regarding a woman who had allegedly been assaulted and perhaps murdered by someone with whom she had gone out gambling for the evening. Read more about this call-out here.
53/2006	Woman missing from hospital Johannesburg, Gauteng	06 Oct	A woman had been admitted to the Garden City Clinic in Johannesburg. She went missing, leaving suicide notes at the Clinic. Read more about this call-out here.
52/2006	Missing child Soweto, Gauteng		A child had been visiting Soweto from Pretoria and had gone missing. SAPS called on members of ORRU to assist to search for the child. The child was later found.
51/2006	5-year-old boy missing in Kliptown Kliptown, Johannesburg	17 Sep	Early on Sunday morning, a call was received from the South African Police Services requesting the Off-Road Rescue Unit to assist in a search for a 5-year-old boy. He had been playing with other children, in a vlei (small dam) near his home in Kliptown, Soweto, and had disappeared. Read more about this call-out here.
50/2006	20 Teenage girls rescued in river drama Bronkhorstspruit, Mpumalanga	12 Sep	The Off-Road Rescue Unit played a pivotal role in finding and rescuing twenty teenage girls and their teachers in the early hours of the morning after they had been trapped on a river, enduring a long, cold night with no warm clothes and no fire. Read more about this call-out here.
49/2006	Hijacked child Soweto, Gauteng	10 Sep	At 13h45 on a Sunday afternoon, members were asked to assist in a case where a mother had been hijacked, and her car taken from her with her 5-year-old still in it. A Code Yellow was issued to members, but they were stood down before departure. Police established there had been no hijacking, that the mother did not own a car and that she had no driver's licence. The child had been safe and sound with its grandparents all along. The mother was arrested for perjury and obstruction.
48/2006	Missing child Eldorado Park, Gauteng	08 Sep	At 22h15, a Code Yellow was issued for a missing 10-year-old in Eldorado Park, but after police made more enquiries it was decided not to go to Code Red as it appeared to be a runaway, which is a police case.
47/2006	Missing mental patient Krugersdorp, Gauteng	08 Sep	At 16h50, the unit was informed by police that a mental patient had climbed over the fence of the Sterkfontein Hospital near Krugersdorp and was missing. From previous similar cases, members knew of the steep cliffs and broken ground behind the hospital and were deployed for a night time search. At dusk, the team was stood down as the patient had made contact with her family.
46/2006	Missing hijack victim Nooitgedacht, Gauteng	06 Sep	A hijack victim was missing near the Petroport on the N14 between Krugersdorp and Pretoria. A Code Yellow was sent out at 18h25 for an urgent deployment of members. At 23h15 the ORRU team was stood down while police gathered more information and arranged the deployment of a helicopter at first light.
45/2006	Missing baby Roodepoort, Gauteng	03 Sep	A father had told the mother of his 18-month-old baby daughter that he was going to hang the baby from a tree and then commit suicide. He had left with the child, and police had found him on a mine dump in a critical condition after he had drunk poison and left a suicide message, but there was no sign of the child. Read more about this call-out here.
44/2006	Missing motorist Hartbeespoort Dam, Northern Province	27 Aug	The Rescue Unit was called out just after 3am on a Sunday morning. A woman had talked to friends on her cell phone while driving home late at night, saying she would be there in ten minutes. When she did not arrive, they went looking for her, and discovered her vehicle, with the keys still in the ignition, abandoned at the roadside. Read more about this call-out here.
43/2006	Hikers stuck on mountain Golden Gate, Free State	11 Aug	Two adults and two children were stuck on a mountain in the Golden Gate area and were in cell phone contact with Mountain Search & Rescue. ORRU was called out to assist but fortunately the park rangers got to the hikers before we were dispatched.
42/2006	Missing helicopter Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal	09 Aug	A helicopter pilot deviated from his flight plan to avoid bad weather and then landed at a small village in KwaZulu-Natal. He notified his wife, but no-one else, and the Air Rescue Coordination Centre started a search and rescue operation. Members of ORRU were put on standby at 22h00 for an early start the next morning to travel to the Greytown area to look for the aircraft and pilot, but the next morning the all-clear was given when the facts came to light. Steps were due to be taken against the pilot for his failure to notify authorities of his situation.
41/2006	Severe weather Countrywide	02 Aug	A severe cold front caused extensive flooding in the Eastern Cape, the closure of the N11 near Volksrust, a tornado in Dullstroom and even sleet in Johannesburg. The Off-Road Rescue Unit was put on standby for three days but was not mobilised.
40/2006	Missing child Rust de Winter, Limpopo	01 Aug	A child went missing on a game farm near Rust de Winter in Limpopo Province. SAPS asked for assistance at 21h30 and a search team was called out to rendezvous at 22h30 for the two-hour drive to the search area. Just before the team members left home, a Code Green to stand down was issued as the police had located the missing child.
39/2006	Missing boy Kliptown, Gauteng	28 Jul	The South African Police Services reported that a 5-year-old boy had gone missing in the veld alongside the Klip River in Kliptown, Soweto. Members of the Off-Road Rescue Unit were scrambled, but police found the boy and the call-out was terminated.
38/2006	Missing women Bapsfontein, Gauteng	05 Jul	The SAPS in Bapsfontein required help to search the veld for two missing females, but they were found before members could leave for the area.
37/2006	Missing teenager Eldorado Park, Gauteng	04 Jul	The SAPS requested assistance to look for a 15-year-old girl who was missing following an overnight robbery, but she was found unharmed.
36/2006	Train crash Olifantsfontein, Gauteng	30 Jun	A goods train crashed into a passenger train near Olifantsfontein. ORRU was placed on standby, but there was a prompt response from numerous EMS agencies and the Unit was stood down.
35/2006	Missing hijack victim Grasmere, Gauteng	20 Jun	A motorist had been hijacked in the Grasmere area south of Johannesburg and ORRU members were called out by the police to assist in the search. Read more about this call-out here.
34/2006	Missing robbery victim Vanderbijl Park, Gauteng	15 Jun	On Tuesday, 13th June, a woman had been robbed in her home on a smallholding near Vanderbijl Park south of Johannesburg. The robbers had loaded her into her double cab truck and driven away with her and she had not been seen since. The signals from her cell had been tracked and police had a clear picture of the route the robbers had followed after leaving the house. ORRU members were called upon to assist. Read more about this call-out here.
33/2006	17-y-o female missing in mountains Thabazimbi, Northern Province	11 Jun	An epileptic teenage female had been missing for several days at Hoopdal near Thabazimbi. ORRU members scrambled to the call-out and drove the two-hour trip to the area early on Sunday morning. The subject was found in good health. Read more about this call-out here.
32/2006	Missing housewife Weltevreden Park, Gauteng	10 Jun	A housewife had left her valuables and cell phone at her suburban home and walked a short distance to the dentist where she kept her appointment. Five hours later she had still not returned home and the alarm was raised. ORRU members responded to the call-out and the missing woman was found unharmed - in a beauty salon nearby.
31/2006	Abducted 10-year-old girl Kliptown, Gauteng	2 Jun	A 10-year-old girl and a male companion were returning from school in the afternoon and got off a train at Kliptown station in the midst of a large group of striking "security guards" who forcibly took the two children with them as they left the station. The boy managed to escape and raised the alarm, but the girl had not been seen since. Read more about this call-out here.
30/2006	Search for murder victims Midrand, Gauteng	31 May	A serial killer operating in the Midrand area had been dumping the bodies of his victims near a rock quarry at Samrand. Police had found nine bodies so far, and were convinced that there were more. Members of the Off-Road Rescue Unit were asked by the police to assist in searching a large area of rough terrain surrounding the quarry. Read more about this call-out here.
29/2006	Bad weather Gauteng	19 May	The Unit was placed on standby because of a severe cold front in the area and snow on the Eastern escarpment.
28/2006	Missing security guard East Rand, Gauteng	13 May	A security guard was thrown off a train on the East Rand by striking security guards. SAPS called ORRU for assistance to search the railway lines between Germiston and Johannesburg.
27/2006	Missing hijack victim Lenasia, Gauteng	6/7 May	Two Indian males had been hijacked by two other males and driven southwards from the Lenasia area in the early hours of the morning. First one, then later the other were taken out of the car into the veld and shot by the hijackers. The body of the first victim had been found, but not the second, and police contacted the Off-Road Rescue Unit for assistance. Read more about this call-out here.
26/2006	4x4 Tourists missing in Lesotho Lesotho	18 Apr	Three 4x4s containing eight people had set off from Durban to spend the Easter long weekend driving a route of difficult roads and passes in southern Lesotho. They had not arrived home at the arranged time and were now more than 24 hours overdue and the alarm had been raised. Read more about this call-out here.
25/2006	Search for missing security guard Meadowdale, Gauteng	18 Apr	An industrial site had been robbed and police suspected that the security guard had been abducted. ORRU and then MSAR were called out to assist with a search over rough ground and old mine shafts. Read more about this call-out here.
24/2006	Stranded dogs Zebediela, Limpopo	14 Apr	Via Hamnet we received a call that some dogs had fallen into a kloof near Polokwane and needed to be rescued. We discussed the matter with the Mountain Search & Rescue team who suggested that Polokwane EMS would be the best placed to help.
23/2006	Search for missing body parts Lenasia, Gauteng	14 Apr	On Easter Friday, while watching comedian Barry Hilton on stage in the evening, a duty officer received an SMS from the police asking for the Off-Road Rescue Unit to assist them to look for missing body parts. Quite a sobering concept while you are busy laughing and being entertained. Read more about this call-out here.
22/2006	Vehicle recovery Chloorkop	25 Mar	Two vehicles had got stuck in a quarry at Chloorkop while enjoying themselves on a Saturday afternoon. They were unable to extricate themselves and when night fell they called for assistance. T81 Ian, T34 Jonathan and T37 Darryl responded and winched one vehicle out without problems. The second was perched on a side slope and a complex rigging layout with several vehicles was used to winch the stuck vehicle back onto level ground.
21/2006	Possibility of flooding Gauteng	20 Mar	The Unit was placed on standby because of continued heavy rains in the Johannesburg area and the danger of flooding. No call-outs were received.
20/2006	Missing athlete Gauteng	18 Mar	After an athletics meeting for the mentally disabled at Ruimsig in Roodepoort, one of the participants went missing. ORRU was called by the police to assist to search for the 45-year-old woman. Read more about this call-out here.
19/2006	'Abducted' 4-year-old girl Gauteng	08 Mar	The police called a duty officer of the Unit to say that the grandchild of a prominent judge had been kidnapped. The story was still under wraps from the media, and given the high profile of the family, he requested the Unit to respond with as many members as possible. Read more about this call-out here.
18/2006	Missing suicidal man Gauteng	08 Mar	A man who lives alone on a farm in the Elandsdrift area north west of Honeydew had sent suicide notes by SMS to his family and had been seen walking away from his farm earlier in the morning, and had not been seen since. Read more about this call-out here.
17/2006	Missing 10-year-old boy Gauteng	04 Mar	A 10-year-old scholar had been sent to school on Friday. When he had still not returned home by Saturday afternoon, police asked for assistance in finding him. Read more about this call-out here.
16/2006	Passengers trapped by rising water Limpopo	04 Mar	A driver and passenger in the Borakalalo Game Reserve were trapped on an island surrounded by rising waters. Read more about this call-out here.
15/2006	Flood from breached dam wall Gauteng	04 Mar	Large amounts of water were being released from a dam whose wall was subsiding. A quad biker had tried to cross a flooded river downstream and had been washed away. Police requested help to search for him. Read more about this call-out here.
14/2006	Missing aircraft North West	27 Feb	An aircraft had gone missing between Christiana and Polokwane in bad weather. The Air Rescue Coordination Centre asked for assistance and a code yellow was issued to ORRU members, one of whom was coincidentally already on the scene of a recent plane crash. The registration of the wreck was checked and the ARCC was called back within minutes to tell them that we had found their missing plane. Two people died in the accident near Mooinooi when the pilot attempted an emergency landing.
13/2006	Missing child Bruma Johannesburg	19 Feb	A code yellow was issued after police asked unit members to assist in the search for a missing little boy. A code red was issued but as members were about to leave, the boy was found at shops in the area.
12/2006	Missing boy Lenasia, Gauteng	14 Feb	A little boy was reported as having been at a bus stop after school in an area south of Lenasia, but he never boarded the bus or arrived home. The SAPS asked for assistance and a team combed the area surrounding the school. Then the SAPS received a call that the boy was at the bus depot. He had indeed boarded a bus, but the wrong one, and then fell asleep in the back of the bus. Before the search team was stood down, police received another call regarding two teenage girls who had gone missing in Eldorado Park. The SAPS treated the case as one in which the girls had intentionally run away, and ORRU was stood down.
11/2006	Inspection of flood damage Gauteng	13 Feb	Members of ORRU convoyed the MEC for local government and a press contingent to various sites in greater Johannesburg to view damage caused by ongoing flooding in the area.
10/2006	Missing 3-year-old child Dobsonville, Gauteng	11/12 Feb	In Dobsonville, south of Roodepoort, a three-year-old toddler had gone missing. A group of young children, including the toddler, were playing in some open veld on Friday around midday and they then returned home, but without the youngster. Adults were informed and they searched the field without finding anything, and later the police were called. Given the rough terrain of the search area, ORRU was called out to assist.
9/2006	East Rand floods Benoni	10 Feb	ORRU was called out by East Rand EMS and SAPS due to 95mm of rain falling in 30 minutes. Roads and houses were flooded and members of the Unit performed many extractions and recoveries as well as traffic control on major roads.
8/2006	Possibility of flooding Gauteng	08/ 09 Feb	The Unit was placed on standby because of continued heavy rains in the Johannesburg area and the danger of flooding. No call-outs were received.
7/2006	Missing teenager female Brixton, Gauteng	07 Feb	SAPS called the Unit for assistance to search for a teenage girl who had gone missing from her home in Brixton. The Unit went on standby but the girl was found before deployment.
6/2006	Missing 6-year-old child Nancefield, Gauteng	06 Feb	A six-year-old girl had been missing for two days in the Nancefield area south of Johannesburg and the police called us to assist with a search in large stretches of open veld in the area. Five members responded and went to Code Orange, but before they were scrambled, the police found the child unharmed.
5/2006	Missing car driver Klip River, Gauteng	01 Feb	A car had been found abandoned south of Johannesburg, with no sign of the driver, and the police had reason to believe that a hijacking had taken place. The police called ORRU to assist and members of the unit searched a wide area from 21h00 until the early hours of the next morning. Police located the unharmed driver the next day.
4/2006	Missing suicide victim Magaliesberg, Gauteng	11 Jan	A man went missing in 2004 after leaving a suicide note. His body was never found. In January, 2006, SAPS received new information as to where the body may be. ORRU was placed on standby but the search was called off until mid-February.
3/2006	Possibility of flooding Gauteng	10 Jan	The Unit was placed on standby because of continued heavy rains in the Johannesburg area and the danger of flooding. No call-outs were received.
2/2006	Klip River Floods Soweto, Gauteng	08 Jan	After a cloudburst early on Sunday morning, the Klip River had burst its banks and was in flood. Police had rescued a dozen people from the raging water, and asked ORRU to assist with a search of the river banks further downstream. Read more about this call-out here.
1/2006	Possibility of flooding Gauteng	04 Jan	The Unit was placed on standby because of continued heavy rains in the Johannesburg area and the danger of flooding. No call-outs were received.

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