Emergency teams rushed to a Durban suburb on Wednesday afternoon after receiving a report of a dead body floating in a river.
‘’Our members are on a scene in an upmarket Durban suburb, where it seems there is a dead body under very suspicious circumstances. Scene is being treated as a crime scene and awaiting SAPS,’’ emergency response group, Mobi-Claw911 shared on their Facebook page.
In a follow-up post, Mobi-Claw911 operations director, Wynand Laatz, confirmed that the ‘’body’’ was a prop from a movie shot in the area and the prop had been left in the river.
Laatz said the necessary teams, including Metro Police Search & Rescue, responded to the scene in Westville and officers abseiled down to the river only to discover that it was blankets wrapped up to look like a dead body.
He said it was a waste of emergency services' resources.
‘’It was established that there was a camera crew here in the evening that did a form of video shoot and left some of the props behind. SAPS Westville will be investigating the matter, and necessary steps will be taken against those camera crews,’’ he said.
Laatz explained that it is important to note that the waste of resources was unnecessary for this call-out.
‘’Various responders, search and rescue, paramedics, police, volunteers attended. Their services could have been used for an actual emergency. That is why we don't support any form of illegal video recordings,’’ he said.
Mobi-Claw911 said residents, including young children in an adjacent house, were traumatised by what seemed to be a dead body lying in the river.
IOL