Incidents at Sea Point and at Langebaan

Incidents at Sea Point and at Langebaan

Source : NSRI( https://www.nsri.org.za/2021/11/incidents-at-sea-point-and-at-langebaan/ )

Sat 6 November, the 80th life was saved with the contribution of an NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy and Good Samaritans at Rocklands Beach, Sea Point and NSRI #Mykonos duty crew were activated following reports of a boat in difficulty off-shore of the Alabama Street slipway, Langebaan Lagoon.

SEA POINT:

On Saturday, 6 November, at around 16h30, an NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy and Good Samaritans contributed to saving the life of a young teenager who was being swept out to sea in a rip current at Rocklands Beach, Sea Point.

Kerry Feldman, from Tokai, formerly from Johannesburg, and a former rescue coordinator at The Mountain Club of South Africa, while cycling with her children in Sea Point, noticed a commotion at Rocklands Beach and on investigating she saw a young girl being swept out to sea.

Someone had thrown the NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy, from its pole stationed at Three Anchor Bay, to the girl and the buoy was washing towards the girl in the same rip current, said Kerry.

Kerry raised the alarm alerting NSRI while 2 Good Samaritans, Duane Povey, 33, formerly from Durban and now residing in Somerset West, and a man only identified as Matt, assessed the situation and decided to assist and both of them entered the water.

By that stage the buoy had reached the girl and she was attempting to hold onto the buoy.

Duane has told NSRI that although he is not a strong swimmer he committed to entering the water because the pink rescue buoy had already reached the girl, giving him, and he believes Matt also, the confidence to enter the water because the floatation object was already in play.

NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) and NSRI Table Bay duty crew were alerted.

Duane and Matt reached the girl about 30 to 40 meters off-shore and they assisted her to get a better grip on the pink rescue buoy and between them they swam the girl safely to shore.

The girl was not injured and she was returned into the care of her family members.

NSRI commend the public members who threw the NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy to the girl. Kerry is commended for raising the alarm and helping out on the scene after the girl came ashore, and Duane and Matt are commended for their efforts that contributed to saving the girls life.

This is the 80th life saved with the contribution of an NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy since the inception of the NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy program that was initiated in 2017, said NSRI drowning prevention manager, Andrew Ingram.

LANGEBAAN:

Mike Shaw, NSRI Mykonos station commander, said:

At 14h49, Saturday, 6 November, NSRI Mykonos duty crew were activated following reports of a boat in difficulty off-shore of the Alabama Street slipway, Langebaan Lagoon.

NSRI shore crew responded to the scene to get eyes on the casualty craft while our duty crew responded to our NSRI Mykonos sea rescue station and launched the sea rescue craft Spirit of Surfski 5.

An SA National Parks boat and a kite-boarding safety boat also responded.

NSRI shore crew confirmed that 2 men were holding onto the casualty boat while 2 men were drifting away from the casualty boat. The boat appeared to be swamped with water.

The kite-boarding safety boat arrived on the scene and stayed with the 2 men at the casualty boat while by the SANParks boat rescued the 2 men who were drifting away.

On the arrival of our sea rescue craft we took the 2 men from the casualty boat onboard our sea rescue craft and we towed their boat to shore where it was recovered.

The remaining 2 men were brought to shore aboard the SANParks boat and no one was injured.

NSRI commend the swift response of the kite-boarding safety boat and the SANParks boat.