Avril Mocke, NSRI Lamberts Bay station commander, said:At 17h30, Tuesday, 25 May, NSRI Lamberts Bay duty crew were activated following reports of 2 fisherman, a father and his son, from Doringbaai, missing in dense fog and believed to be off-shore in the vicinity of Doringbaai on the West Coast.Dense fog that converged on fishermen at sea forced fishing boats to return to shore late on Tuesday afternoon but the father and his son, who had been seen fishing at the time in the area, had failed to return.It appears that they had no cellphone or GPS (Global Positions System) onboard and NSRI Lamberts Bay and the SA Police Services initiated investigations to try to determine a search area.Later in the evening fishermen who had returned to shore suggested that the 2 missing fishermen had last been seen heading North and NSRI Strandfontein were alerted.MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) were alerted and Telkom Maritime Radio Services broadcast an all ships alert for vessels in the area to keep a look out despite the dense fog .During the night NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) continued to monitor and MRCC placed the SA Air Force 22 Squadron and NSRI ASR (Airborne Sea Rescue) on alert.NSRI EOC activated NSRI Mykonos to join NSRI Lamberts Bay, NSRI Strandfontein and the SA Police Services in a search on Wednesday morning.At sunrise on Wednesday morning a member of the public found the casualty boat washed ashore North of Strandfontein and Police and the local fishing community recovered the boat.An NSRI Strandfontein rescue craft jet-rib, Rescue 45, was launched to search.Police and local fishermen then located and recovered the body of the father who was found washed ashore in amongst rocks North of Doringbaai.A search continued for the missing fisherman, believed to be aged in his 30's, and a Police Dive Unit has taken over an ongoing search operation for the missing man.The body of the deceased fisherman has been taken into the care of WC Government Health Forensic Pathology Services and Police have opened an inquest docket.Police divers will continue in an ongoing search operation for the fisherman who remains missing.Condolences are conveyed to the family of the deceased man.Our thoughts are with the family in this difficult time.
