A newly acquired Airbus H125 helicopter of the South African Police Service (SAPS) has helped to locate two bodies that were found floating in the Swartkops River in Gqeberha.

The bodies were found when the crew of the helicopter, based at the Air Wing in Gqeberha, was familiarising itself with the new aircraft and were called to provide aerial support in an ongoing search and recovery operation on Monday 13 October.

This as the search and recovery effort to find a 17-year-old boy had begun on Friday.

“The allegation is that on Friday, 10 October 2025 [at] around 10am, friends were swimming in the Swartkops River, when Curtis Samson (17), got into trouble and disappeared into the water,” the SAPS said.

The SAPS Search and Rescue team from K9 Unit was activated and other stakeholders assisted in the operation.

“The operation continued over the weekend, with scheduled stops during sunset. Moments, after the activation of the chopper, the crew spotted two bodies floating in separate areas of the river. The first body was identified as Curtis Samson.  The second body was an African male and is yet to be identified. Police divers retrieved the two bodies,” said Eastern Cape police.

The police have opened two separate inquest dockets for further investigation.

Two new H125 rotorcraft were formally handed over to the SAPS by Airbus on Friday 3 October. Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia explained that one of the helicopters would be based in Umtata and the other in Gauteng. The SAPS now has a fleet of 19 H125/AS350 Squirrel helicopters. It received two others from Airbus in September 2023, with more expected to be acquired in the future.

Cachalia said the acquisitions of the helicopters, as well as 12 Paramount Marshall internal security vehicles also handed over on 3 October, were done with Criminal Assets Recovery Account (CARA) funding and are part of an ongoing procurement process, but did not elaborate on what further equipment will be acquired.