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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The Zimbabwean Embassy in South Africa said this morning that so far they had identified five of its nationals who were killed by devastating floods in Kwazulu Natal province last week.

According to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, the death toll from the floods now stands at 443 with 63 more people still missing.

Search and rescue operations are currently underway.

Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Pretoria, Mr David Hamadziripi confirmed the death of five Zimbabweans and expressed his condolences to the grieving families.

He added that they were still checking with authorities in that country for more figures.

“The search and rescue operations are continuing. The Consul-General, Mrs (Melody) Chaurura returned from Durban on Monday.

She had positive confirmation of five Zimbabweans who died as a result of the floods. We await further information from the police on any other Zimbabweans who might have fallen victim to the floods,” said the Ambassador.

He said the embassy was in the process of identifying and notifying the victims’ next of kin.

The South African government has since declared the KwaZulu-Natal province a disaster area where hundreds of schools have been closed as a precautionary measure.

The area has suffered flooding for over a week and most roads were left extensively damaged while the water and power supply systems have adversely been affected. @tupeyo