Struisbaai – Whale rescue:

Reinard Geldenhuys, NSRI Agulhas station commander, said:At 15h40, Friday, 24th January, NSRI Agulhas duty crew were activated following eye-witness reports of what was believed to be a dolphin injured in Struisbaai harbour.Our duty crew responded and found what was later confirmed by Marine Scientist Mike Meyer to be a Layard's Beaked Whale beaching outside the harbour and appearing to be weak.Chris Wilkinson of the University of Pretoria Mammal Research Institute - whale unit happened to be in Struisbaai at the time and he assisted on the scene attempting to corral the whale away from the shoreline before, on his advice, our NSRI rescue swimmers swam the whale through the surfline to deeper water.Our sea rescue craft I&J Rescuer IV was launched and took over from the NSRI rescue swimmers in deeper water and monitored the whale at sea for some time and we are cautiously optimistic that the whale has survived.Patrols carried out by our NSRI crew on Saturday has revealed no sign of the whale.[video width='640' height='352' mp4='https://www.nsri.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/WhatsApp-Video-2020-01-25-at-11.53.35.mp4'][/video][video width='640' height='352' mp4='https://www.nsri.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/WhatsApp-Video-2020-01-25-at-11.53.45.mp4'][/video]TO REPORT A SEA RESCUE EMERGENCY DIAL 112 FROM A CELLPHONE