Off Road Rescue Unit - Emergency Call-Out Reports

Off-Road Rescue Unit - Emergency Incidents Report - 2009
No.	Incident / Location	Date	What Happened
38/2009	Missing aircraft KZN Drakensberg	28 Dec	A light aircraft had gone missing over the Drakensberg between Harrismith and Ladysmith. Nine cars went on standby while an Air Force Oryx was dispatched to the area. The wreckage was found but all four family members were deceased.
37/2009	Missing Paraglider East Rand	18 Oct	A paraglider pilot had gone missing in the Nigel area on the East Rand. ORRU was called out to assist in the search and the pilot's body was later found. Read more about this call-out here.
36/2009	Rescue Mission Zimbabwe	16 Oct	Rescue South Africa requested ORRU's assistance with two or three vehicles that could assist with communications on a possible mission into Zimbabwe. Read more about this call-out here.
35/2009	Missing despondent Rustenburg	28 Sep	The SAPS asked for assistance to search for a family member of an SAPS colleague who had threatened suicide. The subject had gone missing a week earlier, but had sent an SMS message to family earlier that day, stating that he was in a game reserve, had taken some tablets, and was at peace. Read more about this call-out here.
34/2009	Missing child Rustenburg	26 Sep	A three-year-old child had gone missing on a resort farm between Rustenburg and Sun City and ORRU was asked to assist. A team was assembled but fortunately the child was found unharmed before the team was dispatched
33/2009	Missing child Soweto	23 Aug	The second day of searching for a missing nine-year-old girl, resulting in her body being found. Read more about this call-out here.
32/2009	Missing child Soweto	22 Aug	A nine-year-old girl had gone missing while playing on a field in Soweto and ORRU members were asked to help in the search. Read more about this call-out here.
31/2009	Missing hikers Loskop Dam, Mpumalanga	08 Aug	A group of day hikers had got lost near Loskop Dam and night fell. They had cell phone communications and were able to set their search and rescue mission in motion. Read more about this call-out here.
30/2009	Missing aircraft Polokwane	25 Jul	A light aircraft had gone missing near Polokwane in the Limpopo Province and ORRU was placed on standby to assist with a search. 13 members were available for a 01h00 departure. The team was later stood down.
29/2009	Missing hiker Malawi	25 Jul	A hiker had gone missing on a mountain top in Malawi. ORRU was contacted from Brazil by the missing man's family and the Unit went on standby to possibly drive up in convoy to assist in the search, but it was decided that this would be too time-consuming and that the call-out would be better handled by Mountain Search & Rescue.
28/2009	Missing SAPS member Garankuwa	11 Jul	T68 Simon received a call from SAPS Inspector Stroppie Grobbelaar requesting assistance from the Off Road Rescue Unit the following day to search for a member of the South African Police Service who had been missing for two days. Read more about this call-out here.
27/2009	Suicidal woman East Rand	05 Jul	A woman had taken her two children to a dam near Brakpan, with the intention of committing suicide. Her plan was to drive her vehicle into the dam with herself and the two children inside the car and drown all three of them. Read more about this call-out here.
26/2009	EMS on strike Johannesburg	05 Jun	Sections of the Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services staff went on strike. In the past, ORRU members have provided radio comms to those EMS members who were not on strike, so ORRU was placed on standby should our services be required again.
25/2009	Despondent male Magaliesberg	04 Jun	Mountain Search & Rescue called on ORRU to assist them to locate a despondent male in the Magaliesberg area. The eleven members who responded were divided into two teams. Both teams were later stood down.
24/2009	Aircraft Crash Mpumalanga	27 May	Gauteng Disaster Management called ORRU with a report of an aircraft crash near Ogies in Mpumalanga. ORRU spoke with staff at the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) who confirmed that an aircraft had crashed but without fatalities. The situation was under control and local EMS were on scene.
23/2009	Body recovery from quarry Randfontein	24 May	Police called on ORRU to provide emergency lighting at a quarry in Randfontein where they had to recover a body at night from where it was lying on a ledge on a steep slope with water below. Read more about this call-out here.
22/2009	Missing man Krugersdorp	19 May	The police required assistance from ORRU to search for a 75-year-old male who had gone missing in rough terrain in the Krugersdorp area. Six members responded and after a search of the area the man's body was found.
21/2009	Missing hiker Magaliesberg	02 May	A female hiker had become separated from a climbing group in the Magaliesberg and had still not returned by sunset. ORRU was scrambled along with Mountain Search and Rescue to search the area, and an ORRU member found the woman early the next morning.
20/2009	Abducted woman Magaliesburg North West	05 Apr	A couple stopped to pick up a hitch-hiker near Magaliesburg. It turned out to be a hijacking. The driver was shot and the woman dragged off into the bush by the assailants. The police called ORRU to assist. Read more about this call-out here.
19/2009	Abducted man Westonaria North West	28 Mar	A robbery victim was attacked and dragged into the bush. Police asked ORRU to help search for him. A team was assembled and sent to the area. They found a bloody T-shirt, but no trace of the victim and the search was suspended at 14h30.
18/2009	Injured biker West Rand Gauteng	22 Mar	A quad biker had fallen down a gully on the West Rand and paramedics requested ORRU to assist with stabilising and then extracting the patient, who had suffered a spinal injury. Once extracted, the patient was airlifted to hospital by helicopter.
17/2009	Missing man Pretoria North	7 Mar	The SAPS called for help in a search for a adult male north of Pretoria. There were insufficient members available and the Unit was stood down.
16/2009	Missing man Warmbaths	3 Mar	The SAPS called for help in a search for a missing farmer in the Warmbaths area, 100km north of Johannesburg. Owing to the time of day (mid afternoon) and the low number of members able to take leave from work, a big enough team could not be formed and the Unit was stood down.
15/2009	Search for flood victims Soweto	1 Mar	ORRU supported the Johannesburg EMS and SAPS units in searching difficult terrain in Soweto in a search for victims missing from the floods earlier in the week.
14/2009	Fatal floods Soweto	26 Feb	On Thursday afternoon, 26 February, Johannesburg EMS department called to say that a heavy thunderstorm had caused severe flooding near Mofolo Park in Soweto and help was needed. The South African Police Service and Gauteng Disaster Management also called and the Off Road Rescue Unit responded to the incident. Read more about this call-out here.
13/2009	Taxi washed off road Soweto	10 Feb	The SAPS called for help as a fully-loaded minibus taxi had been swept off a road into a flooding river. A Code Yellow was put out but the SAPS called back to say that all the occupants were safe and had been accounted for.
12/2009	Flooded cars East Rand	10 Feb	Ekurhuleni EMS called on the unit for assistance in recovering a number of parked cars trapped in rising water near the Johannesburg Airport. Due to the very heavy traffic congestion throughout the city and the fact that the rain had stopped, it was decided not to deploy members and the water subsided shortly afterwards.
11/2009	Heavy rains Gauteng	10 Feb	A Code Blue was issued to members to go on standby due to heavy rains falling throughout the province. Squatters often build their shacks on the banks of streams which become raging rivers after a thunderstorm and ORRU gets called out to support the EMS when this happens.
10/2009	Suicidal male Sinoville Pretoria	01 Feb	At 19h51 on 1 February 2009, T68 Simon received a call from South African Police Service Inspector Stroppie Grobbelaar requesting assistance to search for an adult male who had taken an overdose of medication, phoned his family to bid farewell, and walked into the extremely waterlogged bush adjacent to Wonderboom Airport. Read more about this call-out here.
09/2009	Suicidal 16-y-o Kameeldrift Gauteng	27 Jan	A 16-year-old potentially suicidal male went missing in the Kameeldrift area near Roodeplaat. Members were placed on standby but the youth was found unharmed before deployment.
08/2009	Missing Cessna Magaliesberg Gauteng	13 Jan	ORRU members continued to assist police and the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre to search the Magaliesberg area for the missing Cessna. Despite a committed campaign throughout the day, nothing was found. The wreckage of the aircraft was eventually located on Wednesday 14 January north-east of Pilanesberg.
07/2009	Missing Cessna Magaliesberg Gauteng	12 Jan	At about 17h00 on Monday 12 January, the Unit received a call from the South African Police Service to say that they had a credible witness who had seen a light aircraft flying over his farm with engine problems. The SAPS requested the help of ORRU to search the area. Read more about this call-out here.
06/2009	Missing Cessna Pilanesberg North West	10-11 Jan	At 18h42 on Saturday 10 January, T09 Ivor received a call from the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) who reported that an aircraft was missing in the North West Province. The Cessna 206 was flying from a farm airstrip north of Pilanesberg to Lanseria Airport near Randburg and flew into a massive storm near Rustenburg. The craft failed to arrive at Lanseria and a search was to be started. Read more about this call-out here.
05/2009	Stormy weather Gauteng	09 Jan	Members were placed on a Code Blue standby due to recent heavy rains in Gauteng and weather forecasts for more of the same.
04/2009	Missing 13-y-o girl Eersterus Pretoria	08 Jan	At 15h49 a Code Yellow was issued asking members to respond to a call-out by the police to look for a missing 13-year-old girl in Eersterus, Pretoria. 13 ORRU members responded and they were divided into two teams for immediate and later deployment. Teams searched along a river and the surrounding area from late afternoon until late at night without finding anything. The girl was found a few days later hiding out in a friend's house nearby.
03/2009	Missing 4-y-o boy Honeydew Johannesburg	06 Jan	At 18h24, police called on the Unit to assist in the search for a four-year-old boy who had gone missing in Honeydew near Johannesburg. 14 ORRU members responded but before they could be despatched, the boy was found unharmed.
02/2009	Suicidal man Ruimsig Johannesburg	02 Jan	A suicidal male had written a note and then left his home taking a handgun with him. Five members responded to assist the police in the search. The subject was found sitting under a tree. He was disarmed by the police and his weapon and ammunition confiscated.
01/2009	Missing mother and child Ivory Park Gauteng	01-02 Jan	Just hours into the New Year, the Unit received its first call-out to assist police to search for a mother and her child who had crossed a flooding river and been washed downstream. Three members responded and they searched the river banks, resorting to frequent winching to get their vehicles through the mud. Nothing was found. The next day a five-member team resumed the search and the child's body was later recovered.

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