Teenagers rescued by off-duty lifeguard and a bystander

Allan Stilwell, NSRI Port Edward duty controller, said:'At 10h25 on Sunday 8th July, NSRI Port Edward volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following eye-witness reports of two children, a male and female, being swept out to sea at a beach at Glenmore Munster, Port Edward, 4 kilometers from our Port Edward sea rescue station.'Our NSRI Port Edward volunteer sea rescue duty crew launched our sea rescue craft Discovery rescue runner and our NSRI rescue vehicle, carrying rescue swimmers, responded and the uBunthu lifeguards, who are on duty at the Main Beach, Port Edward, were activated.'On arrival on-scene we found a 15 year old male and a 13 year old female, a bother and a sister, on the beach. They had been rescued from the surf by an off-duty lifeguard, who had happened to be on the beach at the time, and by a member of the public, who had also gone into the surf to assist the lifeguard with the rescue.'On witnessing the pair being swept out to sea the off-duty lifeguard and the bystander had gone into the surf to rescue them. 'Our NSRI medics treated the teenagers for near drowning symptoms and determined that they may succumb to secondary drowning and a Netcare 911 ambulance was summoned and they have been transported to hospital in the care of Netcare 911 paramedics by a Netcare 911 ambulance in stable conditions for further treatment and for observation for secondary drowning.'The teenagers are from Pinetown, Kwa-Zulu Natal, and they were in the company of a guardian, a Mrs Hanneke, and we suspect that they were swept out to sea by rip-currents while swimming at a beach that does not normally have lifeguards on duty.'