Where is the VW Polo? Police chief believes the car crashed into Hennops River
Police believe that white Volkswagen Polo hatchback which was occupied by three members of SAPS went into Hennops River in Centurion, and it was swept away by the water current.
Image: Sihle Mlambo/IOL
Police believe that white Volkswagen Polo hatchback which was occupied by three members of SAPS went into Hennops River in Centurion, and it was swept away by the water current.
Image: Sihle Mlambo/IOL
The white Volkswagen Polo hatchback which was occupied by three members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) went into Hennops River in Centurion, Tshwane, before it was swept away by the water current.
National police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola said he is sure the VW Polo went into the river.
Speaking to Radio 702, Masemola said pieces of the VW Polo were found at the crash scene.
"At the point of impact, which is the bridge on the Hennops River, just opposite Makro Centurion, we did find pieces of the vehicle, even pieces with the paint that matches, that are of similar colour of the vehicle our members were driving.
"There is no doubt that the car indeed went into the river there," he said.
Three SAPS constables Cebekhulu Linda, Keamogetswe Buys and Boipelo Senoge were travelling in a white Volkswagen Polo from Bloemfontein to their area of deployment in Limpopo when they went missing.
Image: SAPS
Masemola told the radio station that the tracking device of the vehicle and mobile phones help police in locating the crash site.
On Tuesday, IOL reported that the heart-wrenching case of three SAPS constables who went missing reached a tragic conclusion with the bodies retrieved in Hennops River.
Missing officers identified
Masemola confirmed during a media briefing that the three missing officers are amongst five bodies retrieved from the Hennops River, on Tuesday. The families of Constable Keamogetswe Buys, Constable Boipelo Senoge, and Constable Cebekhulu Linda have identified their loved ones at the Tshwane mortuary.
Disappearance timeline
The officers were last seen in the early hours of Thursday at a petrol station near the Grasmere Toll Plaza on the N1 in Gauteng.
Exhaustive search efforts
A dedicated team of investigators from SAPS launched a comprehensive search across Gauteng, the Free State, and Limpopo, pursuing every possible lead. This extensive search eventually brought them to an area along the N1 highway.
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Moments after leaving the fuel station, SAPS said the the police officers' vehicle tracking device and cellphones later went off.
The trio was travelling in a Volkswagen Polo hatchback with registration number JCL 401 FS.
Three SAPS constables Boipelo Senoge, Cebekhulu Linda, Keamogetswe Buys were travelling in a Volkswagen Polo hatchback from Bloemfontein to their area of deployment in Limpopo when they went missing.
Image: SAPS
On Tuesday, deputy national police commissioner for crime detection, Lieutenant General Shadrack Sibiya said the vehicle had not been found, and that was deeply concerning.
"That is a serious cause for concern. We are still looking for the vehicle and maybe perhaps the other body that we think we haven't recovered," he told journalists.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL
Police believe that white Volkswagen Polo hatchback which was occupied by three members of SAPS went into Hennops River in Centurion, and it was swept away by the water current.
Image: Sihle Mlambo/IOL
Police believe that white Volkswagen Polo hatchback which was occupied by three members of SAPS went into Hennops River in Centurion, and it was swept away by the water current.
Image: Sihle Mlambo/IOL