The City of Cape Town has deployed a team of investigators, K9 unit sniffer dogs, and marine unit members to help bolster the search for Saldanha Bay’s missing 6-year-old Joslin Smith.

The grade 1 learner from Diazville Primary School disappeared from her Middelpos home on Monday 19 February 2024.

The hunt for the little girl is being aided by watercraft, search and rescue volunteers and drones. This comes after the South African Police Service withdrew resources earlier this week.

The municipality decided to lend a helping hand after Saldanha Bay mayor Andre Truter contacted Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis asking for help.

“Late yesterday afternoon, I got a letter from my colleague – the mayor of Saldanha, asking for Cape Town’s help in the search for little 6-year-old Joslin Smith after SAPS decided to withdraw their search and rescue teams and scale down their search. We absolutely will answer that call and, in fact, our teams are already there this morning as of 8 o’clock. We have dispatched our K9 teams, our aquatic search and rescue teams, and search and rescue staff to go and help. We are all praying for her safe return,” says Hill-Lewis.

Truter welcomed the law enforcement agencies who have arrived in the West Coast town to search for little Joslin. He also thanked mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith:

“This has given us a lot of resources that we didn’t have, and the focus is purely on finding Joslin, or finding evidence that will show us what has happened to her,” Truter explained.

Furthermore, MMC JP Smith said officers have hit the ground running:

“It is extremely painful and distressing that this little girl is still missing. We pray that she is found soon. We are glad to contribute to these policing resources. The teams dispatched to Saldanha have extensive expertise in assisting SAPS, as well as search and rescue expertise. We know these officers will bring valuable skills to the search efforts. We initiated work streams between municipalities to ensure that we’re able to respond when called upon,” Smith concluded.

READ MORE:

• Search for missing 6-year-old Joslin Smith scaled down
• Search for missing 6-year-old Joslin Smith continues
• ‘You are giving criminals a blow-by-blow via TikTok’, says Saldanha Bay mayor Andre Truter