Child in a critical condition

Darren Zimmerman, NSRI Simons Town station commander, said: 'At 17h10 (Sunday, 18th November) NSRI Simons Town volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following reports of a drowning in progress at Seaforth Beach, Simons Town'Our NSRI Simons Town volunteer sea rescue duty crew and WC Government Health EMS responded and on arrival on-scene found an 8 year old child from Bridgetown, Athlone, on the beach in a critical condition following a near drowning incident.'It appears that a bystander had rescued the child from the water after finding the child lying face down in approximately 2 meters of water near to the beach. It was reported that the parents of the child were on the beach putting up a tent in preparation to spend time on the beach and they had left the child near to the waters edge but they hadn't seen their child for about 15 minutes prior to the incident.'It is not clear if the child had entered the water to swim or if the child was swept into the water by a wave.'NSRI medics and EMS paramedics began artificial ventilation treatment on the child after finding the child to be not breathing spontaneously.'An EMS response paramedic, CMR (Cape Medical Response) and Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services also responded to assist and the SA Police Services were in attendance.'The EMS Skymed helicopter was activated and the patient has been airlifted to hospital in a critical condition.'The name of the child has not been released by Police.' Source: plak.co.za