On Monday, a distraught Romy Jeawon told how the video footage and pictures of his wife’s mangled car circulating on social media, moments after her body was retrieved from the wreckage, had a “serious psychological” impact on him.
Jeawon told the POST of his family’s unimaginable grief and how as a "responsible parent" he ensured his 14-year-old twin daughters were not exposed to the social media coverage of his wife’s tragic death.
Vanitha, 54, a pharmacist at a Clicks store, in Hillcrest, was travelling to her Moseley Park home in Northdene last Thursday evening when her Suzuki Breeza was swept off a flooded low-lying bridge near Stapleton Road in Pinetown.
He said at 6.30pm, Vanitha had called him but was only able to say a few words before they were cut-off.
“All she said was ‘I am in the river’. I cannot describe what I felt at that moment. I panicked. Thankfully, I knew her daily route to work and back. I decided to go out and search for her. I then notified my relatives. When I got to the area where the bridge was, the search and rescue teams were already there,” said Jeawon.
“Her vehicle was carried by the raging waters for over 2km from where her car was swept away. The vehicle had passed two bridges before it was located. Vanitha’s body was only retrieved at around 4.30am the next morning,” he added.
Jeawon said in addition to dealing with his wife’s death, the videos and photographs on social media of the search and retrieval of her vehicle had added to their trauma.
“The loss of my wife has had a serious impact on my children and I, emotionally and psychologically. The reports and visuals on social media have compounded our grief. The pictures speak for themselves. It was such a sad sight. As a responsible parent, I did not expose my children to the coverage on social media,” he added.
Jeawon described his wife as a “loving and caring mother”.
“She was committed to her work, her colleagues and her patients at the pharmacy, where she had worked for the past two-and-a-half-years. She was a family-oriented person, who enjoyed spending time with us,” he said.
Jeawon said his wife had graduated with a post graduate diploma in public health from the University of Pretoria in 2014.
“Although she was employed full-time at the Clicks Pharmacy, she was planning on pursuing a career in medical research and was in the process of registering for her Master’s degree,” he said.
Rescue operation
Wynand Laatz, operations director for emergency response company Mobi Claw, said they received a call from the Pinetown neighbourhood watch, notifying them that a vehicle had been swept off a bridge.
He said they tried to get a sighting of the vehicle but the water level was too high and the current was too strong. They had to call off the search.
“The instinct of one of our members, Biance White, led her to check the Gordon Road Bridge at 1am. She was on her way home at the time. She spotted Vanitha’s vehicle, but only a small part was visible.
“We regrouped the teams and swimmers from the fire department went into the river. They confirmed a body was inside the vehicle,” Laatz said.
He said when the water level dropped on Friday morning, the vehicle was removed from the river and Vanitha’s body was positively identified.
“The roof of her vehicle was crumpled and the jaws of life were used to free her body, which was still strapped and in the driver’s seat. We viewed camera footage from nearby homes, which showed her vehicle being carried away by the Umbilo River. It was visible that she was pressing the vehicle’s brakes as those lights were on at some stage, which indicates that she panicked,” he said.
Vanitha’s relative, Devashin Manikam Govender, thanked the rescue teams for their dedication and assistance on the night of the tragedy.