Police divers and a special sniffer dog were called in to recover the body of a Manenberg father who drowned at a mining site on Sunday.
Family and friends of Rubin Moses, 32, gathered along the sandbanks of the river at the Consol Glass sand and mineral mine, near Manenberg, on Monday and watched as divers retrieved his body from the water.
His hartseer girlfriend, Shireen Hagerman, 36, says a day out fishing with his sons on Sunday morning turned to tragedy when Rubin disappeared under the water while floating on a piece of styrofoam.
“He was a fisherman who comes here on weekends and they get trout and katvis that they sell for money,” the mom explains.
“In the week he works on the docks in town. I was at work when the neighbours phoned me to say he drowned.”
Shireen, who is five months pregnant with the couple’s third child, says she rushed home to find her sons Darren, 14, and Cohden, 9, traumatised.
“They told me they were fishing when Rubin went into the water on the foam thingy, but it flipped and he went under. We came here and the police went to look on Sunday, but it got too dark so they told us we must come back [Monday].”
Natheer Hoosain, 27, who
witnessed the incident, says he is still in shock.
“It happened very quickly and he still told us the water is deep. Nobody could save him because nobody can swim,” he says.
Shortly before 2pm, divers recovered Rubin’s body which was identified by his girlfriend.
Captain Ian Bennett, says the area around the Consol Glass sand mine is not suitable for fishing or swimming.
“It is an industrial mining site. Swimming or any other water recreation is prohibited.”