Durban — UMhlathuze Mayor Xolani Ngwezi has sent his condolences to the family of a man who lost his life during the recent thunderstorms in eMpangeni.
He also wished a speedy recovery to those who were injured.
Ngwezi was speaking during his visit to the family of Patric Khumbane, who was at a construction site in the Five Ways Mall where he lost his life.
Khumbane was reportedly pressed by the wall of the building they were constructing in eMpangeni, which collapsed due to thunderstorms.
In this area, two other workers were also seriously injured and said to be in critical condition at hospital.
The severe storm caused widespread damage to properties and shopping centres and the falling of trees resulted in road closures.
Ngwezi said a lot of trees fell on sub-stations and damaged infrastructure.
“Our teams are ensuring that they would be able to fix the damage and everything could go back to normal,” said Ngwezi.
Moreover, he said the family of Khubane should consult with the company that their father worked for.
“As the municipality, we would come closer to the family, should they need anything they can contact us. We have left our contact details. Khubane’s son has my number and I have his,” he said.
Ngwezi said what happened on Monday was tragic and offered his condolences to the family, adding the Khubane family had lost its father and that was sad.
On Tuesday he said they inspected the site where the incident happened. Moreover, he thanked the disaster management teams, councillors, businessmen and traditional leaders for their assistance.
Ngwezi said more than 20 homes were damaged.
Alfred Mjadu, the son of Khumbane said his father was the owner of the construction company, Petros Alfred Construction. Mjadu said they were still shocked as the storm did not last even an hour, but it caused damage.
“It was around 16h00 when we first noticed that the weather was changing. My father ordered our co-workers to gather the work tools and leave,” said Mjadu.
He said while they were busy washing the tools a bit far from where they were working the rain started. He said they ran away and went to a shelter in the building and they suddenly heard a loud sound of something falling. He said they saw the roof of the Spur blow off and mobile toilets blowing up.
He said after that they noticed that the wall of the building they were constructing had collapsed.
“We rushed there because it was where my father and two other workers had stayed.
“When we arrived it was already too late. Because they were pressed against the wall, and when we called for emergency help, it was found that my father had collapsed and had broken a number of body parts,” he said.
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