Media Statement from Eastern Cape Media Centre
Corporate Communication
South African Police Service

HUMANSDORP: A 17-hour long search and rescue operation yielded positive results when a three-year-old toddler was rescued and airlifted to Humansdorp Hospital. The search and rescue found a weak and shaky toddler near a stream lying on the ground today.     

On Thursday, 6 April around 19:00, police was alerted to an incident of a missing three-year boy, Chulumanco Feni, who never returned home after he went out of the house to play with a family dog around 14:00 yesterday in the neighbourhood.  Immediately, police search and rescue team was dispatched and resumed with a search and were assisted by the National Sea Rescue Institute volunteers.  A team of volunteers ranging from the business sector to local residents also joined in the search.  Today, a police helicopter was used for the aerial search and around 13:00, a weak and dehydrated Chulumanco was spotted near a creek that joins Kromme River near Humansdorp.  The toddler was then airlifted to Humansdorp Provincial Hospital.

Humansdorp Cluster Commander, Brigadier John Lebok said: “The drive and commitment that were displayed by the various role players who took part in the search and rescue operation is commendable.  In what could have been a tragic story, ended positive with a sigh of relief from everyone.

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