A high school trip turned deadly when two learners from Hoerskool Birchleigh drowned at a Durban beach on Sunday.
The Gauteng department of education said in a statement on Monday that the boys, in grade 10 and 12, respectively, were part of a group that took part in a week-long rugby tournament that started on Thursday last week.
It is believed that on Sunday morning, the learners and several teachers went swimming at a Durban North beach when trouble struck, resulting in some learners having to be assisted to shore by lifeguards after they experienced challenges.
“Subsequent to a headcount, it was realised that two learners were missing,” according to the statement.
Still shaken, the learners were accompanied back to their rooms while the teachers searched the vicinity for the missing boys. “The search went until the evening with no success, after which the educators opened a missing persons’ case at the Durban Central police station.”
The bodies of the two boys were found about two kilometers north of the beach where they went swimming the previous day.
Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi, who said the police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the drowning, has sent his condolences to staff and the families of the boys.
“It is disheartening that a positive sporting school trip that our learners passionately participated in ended in such a tragic manner. We convey our most heartfelt condolences to the two affected families and the school community at large,” said Lesufi.
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