Masemola told the radio station that the tracking device of the vehicle and mobile phones help police in locating the crash site.

On Tuesday, IOL reported that the heart-wrenching case of three SAPS constables who went missing reached a tragic conclusion with the bodies retrieved in Hennops River.

Missing officers identified

Masemola confirmed during a media briefing that the three missing officers are amongst five bodies retrieved from the Hennops River, on Tuesday. The families of Constable Keamogetswe Buys, Constable Boipelo Senoge, and Constable Cebekhulu Linda have identified their loved ones at the Tshwane mortuary.

Disappearance timeline

The officers were last seen in the early hours of Thursday at a petrol station near the Grasmere Toll Plaza on the N1 in Gauteng.

Exhaustive search efforts

A dedicated team of investigators from SAPS launched a comprehensive search across Gauteng, the Free State, and Limpopo, pursuing every possible lead. This extensive search eventually brought them to an area along the N1 highway.

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IOL has previously reported that the three police officers' last known location was the Engen fuel station in Gauteng, on the N1 on Thursday.

Moments after leaving the fuel station, SAPS said the the police officers' vehicle tracking device and cellphones later went off.

The trio was travelling in a Volkswagen Polo hatchback with registration number JCL 401 FS.

culpable homicide

Where is the VW Polo? Police chief believes the car crashed into Hennops River