Rescuers work into the night on New Years Day

SIMONSTOWN:At 12h30, Thursday, 01 January, NSRI Simonstown duty crew launched sea rescue craft to assist a yacht with a French husband and wife onboard in the Marina in Simonstown harbour.The yacht had started to take water after a seal broke in the engine room while in the Marina in Simonstown harbour.NSRI Simonstown put a salvage pump onboard the yacht to pump water out while the yacht was towed by the sea rescue craft to a safe mooring and the skipper will carry out repairs.STRANDFONTEIN: At 19h00, Thursday, 01 January, NSRI Strandfontein duty crew, while at the Strandfontein sea rescue base, noticed three teenagers being swept out to sea by rip currents in front of the sea rescue station.NSRI Strandfontein rescue swimmers grabbed rescue torpedo buoys and ran to assist.Two of the teenagers managed to reach a sandbar and get out of the water safely unassisted but the third teenager was swept out to sea with NSRI Strandfontein rescue swimmers in hot pursuit made use of a rip current to get out through the surf faster and on reaching the teenager, a 14 year old male, from Khayelitsha, he was rescued and brought safely out of the water from 60 meters into the breaking surfline.A paramedic, who volunteers to stand by at the Strandfontein sea rescue base on key days over the festive season, medically assessed the teenager who was released to his parents requiring no further assistance.PORT EDWARD:At 18h45, Thursday, 01 January, NSRI Port Edward medics responded to assist Police at a Port Edward service station where they treated an adult male for a stab wound.An ambulance could not be summoned and NSRI medics stabilised the patient who was transported to hospital for further treatment by Police.NSRI Port Edward medics then were requested to assist Police at the Port Edward taxi rank where an adult male was treated for 4 stab wounds.NSRI medics stabilised the patient and by that stage an ambulance had been freed up and the patient was transported to hospital by ambulance.JEFFREYS BAY:At 17h50, Thursday, 01 January, a 16 year old female, from Humansdorp, was brought to the sea rescue base suffering lacerations to her feet suspected to have been caused by broken glass.NSRI medics cleaned and bandaged the wounds and she was transported to hospital by Private Care ambulance for further treatment.Then at 18h00 NSRI medics treated two adults, believed to be a husband and wife, on the beach for stab wounds and the man who was also treated for a serious head injury.Police guarded the NSRI medics treating the two patients in a tense and volatile atmosphere.Both were transported to hospital in stable conditions by EC Government Health EMS ambulance. PORT ELIZABETH:At 21h20, Thursday, 01 January, NSRI Port Elizabeth duty crew dispatched a sea rescue vehicle and launched the sea rescue craft EIKOS RESCUER IV to Shark Rock Pier for a reported drowning in progress.The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan (NMBM) Beach Office, EC Government Health EMS, NMBM Fire and Rescue Services the SA Police Services and Coastal Water Rescue responded to assist.On arrival on the scene it was found that a 25 year old male had reportedly jumped off the pier and got into difficulties in the surf before unidentified bystanders rescued him from the water and he was not injured but his friend, believed to also be aged 25, had also jumped into the water off the pier, it is believed in an effort to assist his friend, but he too got into difficulty and was last seen by eye-witnesses to be lying face down in the water and being swept out to sea by rip currents.An extensive search has revealed no sign of the missing male who is presumed to have drowned.A Police Dive Unit will continue a search today, Friday, 02 January. TO REPORT A SEA RESCUE EMERGENCY DIAL 112 FROM A CELLPHONESMS 32287 with your name and a message of support for our Sea Rescue crew. SMS charged at R1