ROCKY BAY:Kevin Fourie, NSRI Rocky Bay station commander, said:At 12h13, Saturday, 13th April, NSRI Rocky Bay duty crew were activated following reports of people in distress in the surf caught in rip currents at Rocky Bay.We dispatched NSRI rescue swimmers and Ethekwini Municipal Lifesaving lifeguards from Scottsburgh and Med-Evac ambulance services responded.On arrival on the scene we found local dive charter owner Gareth Salmond had used an NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy (stationed at that beach) to rescue a male and a female, aged in their late teens, and believed to be on holiday in the area.Using the pink rescue buoy Gareth rescued the 2 casualties safely to the beach. Gareth then realised that an adult male bystander who had entered the water to also try to help was swept beyond the backline breakers by rip currents. He launched his dive charter boat and rescued the man at the backline breakers and brought him safely ashore.No one was injured and Gareth Salmond is commended for his effort in successfully rescuing all 3 casualties from the surf today.
CAMPS BAY:Johnny Albert, NSRI Bakoven duty coxswain, said:At 17h11, Saturday, 13th April, NSRI Bakoven and CoCT (City of Cape Town) Law Enforcement officers responded to Camps Bay beach where a whale shark had beached.The CoCT Marine Animal Stranding Network activated and the whale shark was found to be in poor health and later died naturally.Arrangements will be made by solid waste removal for the carcass to be removed from the beach.Marine Scientist Mike Meyer who was on the scene to assist said that these are normally tropical water animals and caught in cold West Coast currents with the recent strong seas and heavy swells may have contributed to the whale shark beaching and perishing.NSRI commend the local public's contribution on the scene at this sad incident and their willingness to assist.
LAMBERTS BAY:Matthys Koch, NSRI Lamberts Bay duty coxswain, said:At 16h00, Wednesday, 10th April, NSRI Lambert's Bay duty crew were activated to assist at incidents off-shore of Lambert's Bay where 2 small open fishing boats reportedly collided earlier in the day and 1 of the boats had been left unmanned at anchor at sea.No injuries had been reported.In another incident the crews on 2 small open fishing boats reported 1 of the boats with fuel starvation and 1 of the boats with motor mechanical failure.These 2 boats were together 5 nautical miles from Lambert's Bay. We delivered fuel to them and they assisted each other further. The boat with motor mechanical failure was taken under tow by the boat that was refuelled while our crew on our sea rescue craft Spirit of St Francis went to look for the boat at anchor to check that it was not in the shipping lanes or on the fishing routes that may pose a danger to other vessels at night.A search of the area where the boat had been anchored revealed no sign of it and it remains unknown if that boat had sunk or just drifted away.On our sea rescue craft returning to Lambert's Bay we found that the boat that was being towed had only been towed half way and had been left at anchor after the other boat that was towing them experienced motor failure to one of her motors and she had limped home on only one motor.Our sea rescue craft went back out to sea and found the casualty boat about 2 nautical miles off-shore at anchor and we took them under tow and towed them safely into Lambert's Bay without incident.No further assistance was required.
TO REPORT A SEA RESCUE EMERGENCY DIAL 112 FROM A CELLPHONE
