Elderly Polish nationals found dead in Table Bay Harbour: Police investigate suspected drowning
Police have opened an inquest into the deaths of two Polish nationals discovered at Table Bay Harbour.
Police are investigating the deaths of two Polish nationals discovered at Table Bay Harbour on Wednesday morning, with authorities suspecting drowning as the likely cause.
While police said they did not suspect foul play at this stage for the deaths of the couple who were both in their seventies, an inquest docket has been opened.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Andre Traut said their teams were called to the scene at the Cape Royal Yacht Club in Table Bay Harbour just after 8am.
The cause of death has yet to be determined and their identities are being withheld at this stage.
'Police were called to the Cape Royal Yacht Club in Table Bay Harbour this morning following the suspected drowning of an elderly couple believed to be Polish nationals in their seventies,' explained Traut.
'At approximately 08:15, police divers discovered the bodies of a man and a woman in the water. An inquest docket has been opened by Table Bay Harbour police to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.
'At this early stage, foul play is not suspected. A post-mortem examination will confirm the cause of death, with drowning considered the most likely cause.
'Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is urged to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
'The identities of the deceased are being withheld pending formal identification and notification of next of kin.'
Cape Argus
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Citizen
2 days ago
- The Citizen
Businessman shot and killed in Hazyview
The Hazyview police in Mpumalanga are in search of a suspect in connection with the fatal shooting of a businessman at Sand River Trust on Wednesday. According to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane, the SAPS responded to reports of a shooting at a popular eatery in the area. Lowvelder reports that when SAPS arrived, they found the victim, Eddie Khoza, lying motionless on the ground and covered with a blanket. 'Police investigations have indicated that a man entered the premises posing as a customer. The suspect suddenly drew a firearm and shot the victim at point-blank range. The victim is said to have attempted to get help but collapsed in the street and was further shot by his assailant, who then fled the scene on foot. Emergency medical services later declared him dead at the scene,' Ndubane says. She says multiple shell casings were recovered at the scene. The police are appealing to the public for assistance in locating the suspect. Anyone with information that could aid the investigation is urged to contact Detective Captain Eddie Raphakgadi on 082 449 0231. Alternatively, call Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or share information via the MySAPS app. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Daily Maverick
Rashid Lombard — legendary photographer and jazz pioneer who forged greatness in the struggle
Rashid Lombard, who died at his Cape Town home this week and was buried according to Muslim rites on Thursday, was a legend as a photographer and pioneer of the Cape Town Jazz Festival. Dennis Cruywagen remembers him. Thirty-six years ago, in August 1989, in Gugulethu township, near Cape Town, I watched the highest-ranking Anglican clergyman in South Africa deliberately being teargassed as he resolutely tried to protect young, defenceless pupils from the fury of the riot police. That priest was the leader of the Anglican Church in southern Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. On that day, he led at least 500 pupils who had resolved to show their support for the national defiance campaign launched by the mass democratic movement. The arrival of police derailed their plans. They fled into Holy Cross Catholic Church. When the Arch, as Tutu preferred to be called, arrived, he negotiated what he thought was a safe passage for the young people with the men in camouflage uniforms. The rector of the University of the Western Cape, Professor Jakes Gerwel, was with him. I was there as a reporter for the Cape Argus newspaper. Also, there was the slim, renowned and fearless photographer Rashid Lombard. As usual his black hair was tied in a ponytail. A black beret sat on his head. Black as his hair was his moustache. We watched teargas being fired at the Arch, Professor Gerwel and the teenagers. Young people scattered. On that winter's day in Gugulethu, while many were coughing and trying to wipe away tears, which are wont to flow in a teargas attack, Rashid stood firm. He calmly raised his camera and started taking photographs that would become world famous. He captured on film images of the Arch walking through a cloud of teargas. They were stunning images. He offered his pictures to my newspaper. They were declined because of the State of Emergency press restrictions. The Cape Times used them the next morning. Gutsy deputy editor Deon du Plessis was infuriated that our newspaper had turned down Rashid's pictures. Rashid allowed the paper to use them. They were subsequently splashed across the front page. His evocative pictures moved Cape Town's English-language newspapers to disregard press restrictions. I recalled this event on Wednesday when I was informed that Rashid had passed away at the age of 74. And as the recollections came gushing, I recalled his gentle, kind eyes, visionary and pioneering spirit, and his great love for his wife, Colleen, their children and grandchildren. Colleen, whom he married in 1970, was held as a detainee from 14 August 1987 until 29 January 1988. Not by choice, he became a single parent of their three children, Yana, Chevan and Shadley, for a while, as his ANC courier wife was held incommunicado. I remembered how, between 1985 and 1990, we were part of a group of news people who were reporting on the struggle. It was a job that consumed our lives and forged strong bonds. In this group were news legends such as Jimi Matthews, Adil Bradlow, Benni Gool, Ayesha Ismail, Sahm Venter, Willie de Klerk, Obed Zilwa, Eric Miller, Guy Tillim, Mike Hutchings, Azziz Tassiem, John Rubython and many others. It takes the death of a former colleague to bring back their names and the times in which we lived and reported on. To me there was a common belief that held us together: we wanted to tell the story of the struggle, the bravery of people – many of them so very young – yet not enough to stop state-sanctioned violence gleefully delivered by cruel men. We were the witnesses; Rashid's camera faithfully recording this infamous history. A lover of jazz who went on to pioneer the Cape Town Jazz Festival in post-apartheid South Africa, Rashid and I teamed up for an interview with uMkhonto weSizwe chief of staff Chris Hani. After the unbanning of the ANC, the charismatic leader and other exiles returned home. On his first open visit to Cape Town, a senior ANC member called me. I was informed that Comrade Chris would be meeting senior newspaper executives at the University of the Western Cape. I was not on the guest list. Miffed, I called Buyiswa Jack, a former detainee incarcerated under section 29 of the notorious Internal Security Act, which has mercifully been repealed, to apprise her of the situation. She contacted her brother, Pro Jack, who was assassinated years later, his killers never apprehended. I was sitting in the Argus newsroom when I was called, instructed to bring only Rashid along, and meet Pro in front of the Langa Post Office. The MK legend, Hani, had insisted that Rashid be the photographer, even if he was not an Argus staffer! Such was his reputation. We spent more than an hour interviewing Hani. The next day the Cape Argus had a poster that alerted readers to an exclusive interview with Hani. Rashid's pictures were used. Reminiscing about past stories and scoops, I went to my bookshelf and retrieved a slim publication, To the Moon and Back: A Detention Memoir. Years ago, I bought the book with the purple-blue cover at Clarke's Bookshop, an institution on Cape Town's Long Street. The author is Colleen Lombard, Rashid's widow, and fellow jazz aficionado. She was arrested with her friend and comrade, the late Zurayah Abass, as they tried to smuggle Nicklo Pedro (also late) and Yasmina Pandy across the border. During her detention she came close to taking her own life, while at home Rashid was taking care of their three children. Those were very hard years. The book, which was a project that Rashid strongly believed in and supported, was first published in 2021. Colleen wrote it 10 years after her incarceration and subsequent court appearance as an accused in what became known as the Rainbow Trial, which started in the Supreme Court in February 1989, a year before Nelson Mandela was freed from jail. The Western Cape's last so-called terrorism trial, it spluttered on until March 1991 when all charges were withdrawn against the accused. In 2014, the national government recognised Rashid's enormous contribution to the reopening of the rich well of jazz music in South Africa and awarded him the National Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for his excellent contribution to arts and culture and his dedication to jazz music. That was a richly deserved honour. Rest well, Rashid. You were a legend. You were on first-name terms with great men and women who recognised your greatness, yet you never lost the common touch and your humility. DM
IOL News
4 days ago
- IOL News
US arrests nihilist over fertility clinic bombing
An American man who believes human life should not exist has been arrested in connection with the bombing of a fertility clinic in California that killed the attacker, Image: Pexels An American man who believes human life should not exist has been arrested in connection with the bombing of a fertility clinic in California that killed the attacker, the FBI said Wednesday. Daniel Park, 32, was taken into custody at a New York area airport, where he arrived from Poland, on charges that he shipped explosives to the man who blew himself up in Palm Springs last month. The explosion ripped a hole in the clinic and blew out the windows and doors of nearby buildings. Bomber Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, of the town of Twentynine Palms in California, died in the blast, which also wounded four people. None of the embryos stored at the clinic were affected. US Attorney Bill Essayli said investigators probing the bombing had discovered Bartkus had "pro-mortalist, anti-natalist and anti-pro-life extremist ideology." Bartkus believed "that individuals should not be born without their consent and that non-existence is best," the US Justice Department said in a statement. Essayli said Park shared those beliefs, and is accused of "shipping approximately 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate, an explosive precursor commonly used to construct homemade bombs, to Bartkus." He said Park, who lives in Seattle, Washington, and Bartkus were together in Twentynine Palms in January and February, where they ran experiments. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Days after the attack, Park -- a US citizen -- fled to Poland, where he was ultimately detained by Polish law enforcement at the request of the FBI. Park was expected to appear in court in New York on Wednesday for a hearing to determine if he can be extradited to California. Akil Davis of the FBI said law enforcement was aware of a small nihilist movement in the United States, and had been tracking it for several years, although these two men were not on their radar. "They don't believe that people should exist," he told reporters. "There's tons of terminology out there, anti-natalism, pro-mortalism, nihilism. These all are intertwined to create their belief system." US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the bomb attack had been a "cruel, disgusting crime that strikes at the very heart of our shared humanity." "We are grateful to our partners in Poland who helped get this man back to America and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law," she wrote on social media. AFP
