Johannesburg water has announced that some of its reservoirs and sewer network points will be isolated on Tuesday night as the search for missing 6-year-old Soweto boy Khayalethu Magadla continues.
Magadla fell down a manhole on 12 June while playing with his friends in Soweto, Gauteng. As a result, Johannesburg Water (JW) has resorted to isolating specific reservoirs and network points between 21 June from 20:00 to 22 June at 08:00.
The search at the localised manhole entry point has not yet yielded any results, said Johannesburg Water in a statement on Tuesday. The manhole has been secured.
“The technologies used to assist with more detailed search in the previous week did not provide results, and therefore the entity will be isolating specific reservoirs and direct feeds, as well as plugging localised sewer lines in order to reduce the flow into the larger sewer network. This will allow for the search and rescue team to inspect the sewer line,” said Johannesburg water.
Seipati Nyawuza, the Johannesburg Water spokesperson said isolation is expected to take place at the Doornkop West reservoir, Chiawelo reservoir, Lenasia Cosmos reservoir, Gemsbok direct feed and Protea Glen direct feed.
According to Nyawuza, JW will isolate specific reservoirs and direct feeds, it will also plug localised sewer plugs, to reduce flow into the larger sewer network. “This will allow for the search and rescue team to inspect the sewer line,” she said.
Nyawuza said a thorough search was conducted at a local manhole, but the body of the missing child was not recovered.
