Classmates of a Grade 10 pupil at Phoenix High School in Manenberg on Monday received trauma counselling while the search continued for their missing friend.

Khanyisile Ngela disappeared in the surf on Saturday while spending a day at Camps Bay with a group of people.

School principal Shafiek Abrahams said on Monday that police had provided a trauma counsellor to work with the pupils in Ngela’s class.

“Fortunately they were not writing [tests] today, but this has devastated our school,” he said.
“I have spoken to his mom, but she was too traumatised to speak so I had to talk to an uncle.

“We have not given up hope that Khanyisile will be found, and that is also the message that the teachers and I shared with the rest of the pupils at school,” Abrahams said.

He was informed of the teen’s disappearance on Saturday.

NSRI Bakoven station commander Bruce Davidson in a statement on Saturday said eyewitnesses reported that the teenager went missing at 10:45.

“It appears that a group of 23 teenagers and young adults from Manenberg had arrived together to spend the day at the beach. While some of the teenagers were swimming in the surf, one of the group appeared to get into difficulty and disappeared beneath the surf,” he said.

It is suspected that the boy had been caught in a rip current.

“Despite an extensive air, sea and shore search, no sign of the missing teenager has been found and he is presumed to have drowned,” Davidson said.

“As part of an ongoing search, rescue swimmers conducted sweeping line searches, free diving in the surf zone and police divers conducted scuba dive searches in the area.”

The search is continuing. News24