The body of a woman whose car was washed away at a bridge in Vanderbijlpark has been recovered at the Vaal dam, ER24 said on Wednesday night.

"A man in a boat found the body floating at a place where the river flows into the dam around 8pm... about 1km from the scene of the accident," spokesperson Werner Vermaak said.

The woman was washed away when a car she was travelling in with her husband was washed away at 6pm. The two had been driving across a river when the accident occurred.

The man was found alive by rescue workers shortly after the incident, "holding on for his life" next to his car.

The man told paramedics that his wife fell out of the car and that she was somewhere downstream.

The man was treated for shock and hypothermia.