In a very unfortunate incident, a South African preacher together with his congregant died earlier this week after they drowned during an unsuccessful baptism process.

According to iHarare, the incident occurred in Johannesburg at Fun Valley near Lenasia.

The police rushed to the scene after being alerted of the tragic incident. After a search was conducted, the pastor’s body was retrieved from the water on Wednesday.

A search is currently in underway to find the congregant’s body.  The identity of the pastor and of the congregant-a woman- have not yet been disclosed.

A pastor who stays not far away from where the incident took place confirmed the tragedy and revealed that he uses the same river to baptise his congregants. He also lamented over how unfortunate it was that some people were dying whilst doing the Lord’s work.

Baptism is something most churches do and the deeper the dam or river, the better the baptism.
We are in the process of finding the woman. We can’t say she is dead. We will only comment once she has been found.

We were also planning to go to the river this Sunday for a baptism, but I’m scared now.

A local community leader also confirmed the incident and advised churches and clerics to conduct river baptisms in groups so as to help each other.

We have always suspected there’s something not right with the river and warned people not to go there, but they never listen.

Captain Kay Makhubele said the pastor’s body was found on Wednesday.

We are in the process of finding the woman. We can’t say she is dead. We will only comment once she has been found.