Station 23, Wilderness :
At 15h00 on Thursday the 3rd January NSRI Wilderness volunteers were called out to Groenvlei near Sedgefield for a Hobie cat that had capsized.According to NSRI Wilderness station commander Hennie Niehaus, a 25year old Sedgefield man had stayed with his Hobie cat when it capsized and the mast became stuck in the mud.The Wilderness duty crew towed the Sea Rescue boat Swart Tobie to Groenvlei and launched it there. They were unable to dislodge the mast form the mud, so they disconnected it and brought the young man and his Hobie safely to shore, leaving the mast to be fetched at a later stage.
Station 07 East London:
At 13h00 on Thursday the 3rd of January the East London NSRI duty crew were called out after reports from members of the public of a vessel in difficulty off Kaysers beach, approximately 40 km south west of East London.
East London METRO rescue and Port of Entry Police were also activated.
According to East London station commander Geoff McGregor, the sea conditions were appalling with a seven metre swell running and a 57 knot South Westerly wind blowing.
The East London rescue vehicle was sent down to coast to monitor the progress of the vessel, which turned out to be the small tug “North Star,” and the 13 metre Sea Rescue boat Spirit of Lotto was launched from East London harbour.
The Sea Rescue vehicle was able to monitor the progress of the tug from land, and as sea conditions were so bad, the Sea Rescue boat Spirit of Lotto returned to the safety of East London harbour after 1,3 hours.
The North Star is en route from Cape Town to Durban and safely entered East London harbour in the late afternoon.
Once it was ascertained that the crew was uninjured and the vessel was safe NSRI stood down at 17h00.
Station 32, Port Edward:
According to Mick Banks, NSRI station commander at Port Edward, a 15 year old girl drowned at the Wild Coast Sun Casino's beach on Thursday the 3rd of December 2013.Wild Coast Waterworld lifesavers and Netcare 911 paramedics were first on-scene and managed to save another teen in distress in the sea.Lifeguards noticed that the two girls were in difficulty and rushed to their aid. Both girls were pulled from the water. Paramedics tried for over an hour to resuscitate the 15-year-old, but she died on the scene.The other girl was stabilised and taken to a nearby hospital.
File picture of Spirit of Lotto.
