Young man swept out to sea at Cape St. Francis is saved

A young man swept out to sea has been saved thanks to the quick thinking of an NSRI St. Francis Bay coxswain and his 2 friends fishing nearby on their boat

At 08h11, Saturday, 18 January, NSRI St Francis Bay duty crew were activated following reports of a drowning in progress at Cape St Francis, between Main Beach and Cape St. Francis Resort.

A local young man, Morgan Lindsay, 21, from Cape St Francis, reported that he and his friend, Yannis Coetzer, age 21, from Humandorp, had been swept out to sea while they were swimming together. Morgan had been assisting his friend Yannis offshore beyond the breakers while they were caught in rip currents before Morgan made the difficult decision to retreat to the shoreline to go to seek help. Yannis, we believe, was just too tired in the water to risk following Morgan into the surf zone.

Morgan reached the shoreline where he located friends of his parents, who were walking on the beach, and he used their phone to call NSRI to raise the alarm.

At that stage Yannis was missing offshore.

While our NSRI duty crew responded to our NSRI St. Francis Bay station 21 rescue base to prepare to launch an NSRI rescue craft, NSRI rescue swimmers responded directly to the scene.

Priority Care ambulance were activated.

NSRI St. Francis Bay coxswain, Louis Fouche, was at sea fishing at the time, nearby, with his friends Barry Culligan and John Lagaay, on Barry's boat AVRIKITI. They were about 2 nautical miles from the scene when the emergency call came in.

They responded on AVRIKITI and on reaching the area, following a brief search, at 08h17, they located the local casualty Yannis in the water at the backline breakers.

Reaching him they were able to rescue him onto their boat safely.

He was found to be tired, dehydrated and showing signs of non-fatal drowning symptoms.

He had been in the water for about an hour and told the Good Samaritan rescuers that he had simply made all efforts to stay afloat while at the mercy of sea currents that were gradually sweeping him towards the shoreline. He was unable to follow Morgan to the shore, and he has praised his friend for going to get help.

Medical treatment was commenced on AVRIKITI while they brought him to the NSRI St. Francis Bay rescue base aboard their boat.

At our rescue base the young man was medically assessed by paramedics before being discharged requiring no further assistance but with the advice to be on alert for further non-fatal drowning symptoms.

The 2 friends were reunited.

Later, the 2 young men returned to the NSRI St Francis Bay rescue station where they thanked everyone involved for their contribution in saving the life of Yannis.

NSRI commend Morgan for his efforts that played a crucial role in saving the life of his friend.

NSRI commend skipper Barry Culligan and his crew, Louis Fouche and and John Lagaay, on AVRIKITI, for their efforts that contributed to saving the life of Yannis.