Three children were being cared for at a centre in Durban after being separated from their families amid New Year’s festivities‚ officials said on Tuesday.

In total‚ 332 children were separated from their carers on Durban’s beachfront‚ but 328 of them were reunited with loved ones the same day.

However‚ four had to be taken into the care of the municipality at the Claire Ellis Brown Pre-Primary School - with just one of the children having been returned into family custody the following morning.

“Three children are still in the custody of the Municipality’s Child Minders. Parents are requested to make contact urgently with officials to be reunited with their children. Proof of identity and relationship with the separated child is required. The contact number for the overnight facility at the Claire Ellis Brown Pre-Primary School is: 031 - 368 4119‚” the municipality said in a statement.

Over 44‚000 arm bands - containing the cell phone numbers of guardians - were issued to children coming to the beach.

“The Municipality will like to urge parents to look after children when visiting the beach and make sure that they take the child to a Child Minder for tagging‚” the city said.

The unclaimed children were the only negative‚ city officials said. They described the New Year’s weekend as “fun-filled”‚ “packed to capacity” and a “hive of activity”.

“The Municipality is happy to announce that it was an incident-free long weekend as Law Enforcement Officers‚ Metro Police and the South African Police Services were out in full force to keep an eye on over 3‚907‚668 people who visited the stretch of beaches on the Ethekwini coastline from 29 December to 01 January 2018‚” the statement said.

Chairman of the Festive Season Management Committee‚ Malcolm Canham‚ said that even though there were large crowds‚ people were generally well behaved.

“The troublemakers were dealt with decisively and we issued over 860 warnings for drinking in public‚ fighting‚ illegal braais and bathing in restricted areas. This kind of behaviour is not acceptable on our beaches and we are clamping down such behaviour.

“A further 161 people were charged for unlicensed vehicles and parking in prohibited areas‚ including motorcycle lanes and disabled parking bays. The swift response of our law enforcement officers also resulted in the arrest of 8 people for cellphone and handbag theft‚ and some were caught with drugs in their possession‚” said Canham.