Freak wave kills three, injures 17 others at South Africa’s Durban Beach

WORLD, Dec. 18 (YPA) –  At least three people were killed and 17 injured when a freak wave struck a popular beach in South Africa’s southeastern city of Durban.

According to Robert Mckenzie, spokesman of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial first responders services, there was a freak wave that washed some people to sea, three have drowned and 17 people have been taken to hospital.

One of the dead was a child aged around seven or eight years old, and the injured are “in serious or critical condition”, he added.

The emergency services said that they were afraid the toll would rise.

The incident happened at around 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) at the Bay of Plenty, one of the popular beaches in South Africa’s third-largest city.

E.M