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Woman and baby swept away by KZN river

Durban - KwaZulu-Natal emergency services are yet to find a woman and baby who were swept away while crossing a bridge over the Mafodobo River near Harding on Wednesday night.

Speaking to News24 on Thursday EMS spokesperson Robert Mckenzie said a 40-year-old grandmother and her 16-month-old granddaughter were still missing. 

"They were trying to cross the river last night. The river is swollen and flooded. It was a low-level bridge they were trying to cross."

According to Mckenzie, a man riding a horse had also tried to cross the same bridge on Wednesday evening.  

"A guy on a horse tried to cross at the same place but not at the same time. The horse was swept away but the man managed to get to safety."

Mckenzie said emergency services were alerted to the missing woman and baby on Thursday.

"Police search and rescue and ourselves went out there and conducted a search several kilometres down the river in bush and vegetation. Sadly, we could not find anything besides several scraps of clothing."

Mckenzie said it was unclear if the clothing belonged to the woman and the baby or not. 

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