A woman drowned in a freak accident at the Gqeberha harbour in the Eastern Cape during the early hours of Thursday morning.
Eastern Cape police said the 32-year-old woman was working at the vehicle terminal when tragedy struck just before 4am.
“It is alleged the woman was driving a Ford Ranger cab onto the vessel carrier (ship). Witnesses alleged that the vehicle accelerated and landed into the harbour,” said Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg.
“The woman could not exit the vehicle which subsequently submerged and she drowned.”
She said the victim’s body was retrieved and her name is being withheld until her next of kin have been informed.
An inquest docket was opened at Humewood SAPS for further investigation.
In a similar tragedy in March 2022, a woman drowned after the vehicle she was travelling in was washed off a low-level bridge in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Emergency services said the body of the woman passenger, believed to be in her late 20s, was recovered by SAPS Search and Rescue in the submerged vehicle located approximately two metres below the surface.
Police said an inquest docket was opened after Pietermaritzburg Search and Rescue and Pietermaritzburg K9 Search and Rescue members were called to assist Himeville SAPS with a body recovery, Daily News reported.
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