A search operation is underway for 17 people who were killed in an attack on a village in the Eastern Cape

17 people have died in a mass shooting incident in a remote town in South Africa as a search is underway for the perpetrators, police said.

Two houses on the same street in the town of Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape, were targeted, police said, killing 12 women and one man in one place, and three women and one man in the second place.

The 18th victim is in critical condition in hospital, the South African police said.

The police minister, Senzo Mchunu, is expected to visit the place where the incident happened.

Officials say the dead are relatives and neighbors in Nyathi village, Ngobozana in Lusikisiki.

South African media reported that the victims had gathered in their homes to prepare to go to a mourning ceremony for a mother and daughter who were killed last year.

They were packing goods and gifts, including furniture, for a party when they were attacked on Friday night, according to media reports.

“We heard gunshots and doors being kicked,” Nomnikelo Ndlovu, one of the residents who managed to hide during the attack, told the SABC broadcaster.

“We tried to hide and three people were shot. We are still traumatized.”

In a statement, the police minister said that a total of 19 people were sleeping in two houses in one yard of one of the areas where the shots were fired.

Mchunu added that there are six survivors in the house – four women, a man and a two-month-old baby. The police spokesperson previously said that the child was not injured but was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

There were no survivors in the other house.

Mchunu said a team of detectives and intelligence experts, including Pretoria’s crime scene managers, had been assigned “to put an end to everything.” [the] evidence together for the purpose of arresting these brutal criminals”.

Officials have not yet determined what caused the attack or made any arrests.

The regional cabinet member for public safety, Xolile Nqatha, told the SABC that he hopes that the seriously injured man will recover quickly, because his recovery can help us to shed more light on this incident.

He also pointed out that the attackers may be known to the victims.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

There were more than 27,000 homicides in 2022 – an estimated 45 per 100,000 people, out of a population of nearly 60 million. By comparison, the US rate is six in 100,000.

Additional reporting by Aleks Phillips