
Pic:: Sea Rescue Kommetjie - on standby during crayfish season
YZERFONTEIN:Willem Lubbe, NSRI Yzerfontein station commander, said: At 16h45, Saturday, 17th December, NSRI Yzerfontein duty crew were activated following reports of a 4 year old boy missing in the surf zone at Pearl Bay, Yzerfontein, believed to have been swept out to sea.The sea rescue craft Spirit of Iffley and our rescue vehicle responded to the scene and the SA Police Services, Dynamic ambulance services and the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter were dispatched.On arrival on the scene an extensive sea, air and shore search revealed no sign of the child and a Police Dive Unit joined the search and they will continue with an ongoing search operation.Police have opened an investigation.It appears that the family, from Malmesbury, were on the beach for the day. During the rising tide the child is believed to have been playing in the water when rip currents swept the child out to sea.KENTON-ON-SEA:Juan Pretorius, NSRI Port Alfred station commander, said: At 10h58, Saturday, 17th December, NSRI Port Alfred duty crew were activated following reports of a man in difficulty on a sea kayak off-shore of the Kariega River and eye-witnesses, observing the man who seemed to be in obvious difficulties had lost sight of the man in misty conditions.The sea rescue craft Lotto Challenger was launched and our rescue vehicle, towing the sea rescue craft Rescue 11 Alpha, responded and Rescue 11 Alpha was launched at the Kariega River Mouth. Local lifeguards joined in the search.During a search we found the man walking towards Kenton-On-Sea dragging his sea kayak along the shoreline from the West side of Kenton..It appears that in the 3 meter swells the man had launched through the river mouth to paddle out to sea but he had been battered by the heavy surf, capsizing and washing with currents towards the shore further down the shoreline and out of sight of eye-witnesses who lost sight of him in misty conditions.He had been separated from his paddle board and managed to swim ashore and his paddle board washed ashore later.The man was exhausted and we brought him back to Kenton-On-Sea. He is aged in his late 20’s, from Grahamstown, and has holidayed and always paddles while on holiday in Kenton-On-Sea for the past 10 years but he says he was completely taken by surprise by the rough sea conditions today.KOMMETJIE:Ian Klopper, NSRI Kommetjie station commander, said: At 11h00, Saturday, 17th December, NSRI Kommetjie duty crew launched the sea rescue craft Il Battello to assist two 25 year old men, one from Fish Hoek and one from Kommetjie, who capsized in their 4 meter inflatable dinghy at Boneyards Reef, Kommetjie while crayfishing.On arrival on the scene we found that they had managed to get back into their craft which now suffered motor failure from the capsizing.They were both transferred into our sea rescue craft and transported to shore where they were treated for mild hypothermia.We recovered their craft and both men were released requiring no further assistance.THREE ANCHOR BAY:Bruce Davidson, NSRI Bakoven station commander, said: At 12h55, NSRI Bakoven duty crew were activated by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) following reports from a man reporting his friend capsized on a sea kayak off-shore of Three Anchor Bay.The 2 men had gone fishing but the 52 year old man, from Simonstown, had reportedly never launched his kayak into the sea and after capsizing he was not able to get back into his kayak which kept capsizing and the alarm was raised.An owner at Kaskazi Kayaks, Three Anchor Bay, seeing the men in difficulty launched a sea-kayak to go to assist.Our NSRI Bakoven duty crew launched the sea rescue craft Rotarian Schipper and on arrival on the scene we found the man in the water and his friend and a sea-kayak from Kaskazi Kayaks were rafter alongside helping the 52 year old man to stay afloat with him holding onto his kayak.The man was rescued onto our sea rescue craft and medical treatment for exhaustion and hypothermia commenced.The man was brought to the Three Anchor Bay slip-way where Netcare 911 ambulance services were summoned and the man was transported to hospital by ambulance in a stable condition for further treatment and for observation for secondary drowning.PORT EDWARD:Alan Stilwell, NSRI Port Edward duty controller, said: At 15h20, Saturday, 17th December, NSRI Port Edward assisted Police to locate the parents of a 3 year old girl who had been separated from her family in the crowd of beach goers.Our NSRI crew and Police walked up and down the beach trying to find the childs family but after the parents could not be found on the beach the sea rescue vehicle was driven onto the beach and using the rescue vehicle loud hailer and a Police officer speaking in the local dialect isiXhosa addressed the large crowd this yielded no result.The child was brought to the sea rescue base and while in the care of our NSRI crew the family finally arrived at the Sea Rescue base looking for their child and they were reunited.
MELKBOSSTRAND:Rhine Barnes, NSRI Melkbosstrand station commander, said: At 16h05, Saturday, 17th December, NSRI Melkbosstrand duty crew launched the sea rescue craft
Rotary's Gift and
Spirit of Brenda, to search for a kite-surfer that eye-witnesses had last seen a nautical mile off-shore of Van Riebeek Strand, Melkbosstrand.Despite an extensive search no sign of the missing kite-surfer could be found and the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter was activated by Metro Control to join in the search.Prior to the Skymed rescue helicopter arriving on the scene the 55 year old man, from Germany, was found by NSRI, he was walking along the beach after he had managed to reach the shoreline paddling with his board and kite.His kite-board, with a sail too small for the wind conditions, had collapsed and he was unable to get the sail up in the wind, forcing him to swim to shore. He was not injured.Earlier a man dislocated his knee while kite-boarding at Dolphin Beach. He was transported to hospital by ambulance in a stable condition.
EAST LONDON:Geoff McGregor, NSRI East London station commander, said: At 19h08, Saturday, 17th December, NSRI East London duty crew responded to Nahoon Beach following reports of a drowning in progress. The SA Police Services and Dynamic ambulance services also responded.On arrival on the scene it was found that a father appears to have gone into the water to help his son who was in difficulty. The father grew tired and got into difficulty himself. We believe that a local surfer, Brandon Flynn, may have assisted the son out of the water and then went back into the surf with his surfboard and was assisting the father to stay afloat (the father was at this stage suffering complete exhaustion and no longer able to help himself).Jordy Malherbe and his dad Andre, local surfers, had arrived on the beach and seeing Brandon helping the casualty they both launched their surfboards to go to help Brandon.On their arrival we believe that Jordy took over helping the casualty, bringing him safely to shore, and Andre assisted Brandon, who was by now also exhausted, to get to shore.Local surfers Brandon Flynn, Jordy Malherbe and Andre Malherbe are commended for going to the assistance of the father and his son and managing to rescue them successfully averting a disaster at Nahoon Beach on Saturday.The father and his son were checked by paramedics but they required no further assistance.