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- A 9-year-old boy went missing when he and two friends went swimming in a Macassar river on Thursday afternoon.
- On Saturday, a drone was used to help police divers search the river.
- The boy's body was found during a search on Sunday afternoon.
The body of 9-year-old Mbongi Hilton Esau was found on Sunday afternoon - three days after he disappeared in a river he and two of his friends were swimming in.
Residents of Macassar, Cape Town, came out in their numbers on Saturday to search for him.
On Saturday afternoon, at least four police divers and a search dog were on the scene as they continued to look or the boy, Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie said.
"[He] was reported missing by his family early Friday morning after he and friends allegedly went for a swim. These friends later took members [of] the police [to] where he allegedly disappeared under the water," Pojie said.
Community leader and chairperson of Freedom of Speech non-profit organisation, Waseemah Flaendorp, said: "When we heard the news, we immediately went to the river to see if we could find him, but there were no sights of him anywhere in the river or the surroundings."
She added that the police questioned the boys on Friday to establish what had happened the Thursday afternoon.
The boys told the police officers that they had been playing in the area before going for a swim in the nearby river.
"Police then went to the river and started searching for the boy with the help of the community members. The boy's mother and brother also came out to help in the search. They are in a complete state of shock," said Flaendorp.
She added that Mbongi's mother went into the water to help police find her son.
By late Friday afternoon, posters started circulating on social media, appealing to members of the public to look out for the boy.
"When we went back to the river on Friday afternoon, we spotted Mbongi's clothing that he was wearing before he went into the water. His mother and brother were there and immediately identified his clothes.
Flaendorp said:
On Saturday morning, the police divers were back on scene with the search dog, Flaendorp added.
A community member offered to use his drone to help police with the search.
The drone circled around the river, providing an aerial view of the water and possible sightings of the boy's body.
However, Flaendorp said the dirty water hampered the search.
Eventually, a member of the community who joined the search party found his body.
An inquest has been opened for investigation.
Mbongi's mother was too emotional to speak to the media.
* Editor's note: This article has been updated.
