East London – Wednesday, 14 April.NSRI East London has assisted Police who are coordinating an ongoing search, along the coastline at Chinsta, where a local 38 year old man has gone missing while body boarding on Tuesday.The SA Police Services, Police K-9 Search and Rescue and a Police Dive Unit are engaged in a search operation and they are joined by a private helicopter (volunteered to assist in a search by a local businessman), the EC Government Health EMS rescue helicopter and friends of the missing man, who have launched boats to assist in the Police search.It appears that the missing man was body boarding in the surfline at Chinsta and later in the day his body board was found washed up on the beach and the man was nowhere to be found and he remains missing.The body board appears to have bite marks on the board that may be the bite marks from a shark and this is being investigated to confirm if this is the case.As a precaution NSRI and BCMM (Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality) are appealing to bathers, paddlers and surfers to be cautious along that stretch of coastline between East London and North of Chinsta.Although at this early stage a shark incident cannot be confirmed this public warning is carried on the assumption that this incident may be shark related and caution is advised.We are appealing to anyone who may have been in the area of Chinsta Beach on Tuesday at around 11h00 to come forward if they may have noticed anything that may be related to this case and we are appealing to public members that use that stretch of coastline to keep a look out.Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the missing man in this difficult time.
