Search continues for two men missing in the surf at Strand Beach

Police divers are continuing search efforts at Strand Beach for two local men who went missing in the surf zone after being swept out to sea by rip currents on Wednesday, 2 September.

At 13h43 on Wednesday, 2 September, NSRI Gordons Bay duty crew were activated following eyewitness reports, from an NSRI Gordons Bay crewman's family member who works at a local coffee shop, of a drowning in progress in the surf zone at Strand Beach, near the Helderberg Marine Protected Area (the Lourens River).

NSRI rescue swimmers responded immediately to the scene, while the rescue craft Zelda was launched from the NSRI Gordons Bay satellite station at Strand Beach. NSRI crew also responded to the NSRI Gordons Bay Station 9 rescue base, where the rescue craft Spirit of Surfski was launched.

The SA Police Service, GB Med Sec ambulance service, WC Government Health EMS ambulance, EMS rescue squad and rescue squad drone unit, Police divers (Water Policing and Diving Services), Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, City of Cape Town Law Enforcement officers and the Law Enforcement Marine Unit, and the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter all responded. The City of Cape Town water rescue network was also alerted.

It appears that a group of men from a local business, on a day off, were at the beach when one of their group, a local man, got into difficulty in the water. His two colleagues, a 22-year-old man from Belhar and a 39-year-old man from Mfuleni, Blue Downs, were caught in rip currents while trying to assist their friend, and both disappeared in the surf zone.

A local surfer, a Good Samaritan whose identity is not yet known, is believed to have rescued the man who was initially in distress. He was attended to by paramedics and released, requiring no further medical care.

Despite an extensive air, sea and shoreline search, including NSRI rescue craft searching in and beyond the surf zone, aerial search efforts by the Skymed rescue helicopter, and free-diving search efforts by Police divers in the surf zone, there remains no sign of the two missing men.

Police divers continue ongoing search efforts, and Police have opened an investigation.

Our thoughts and care are with the families, friends and colleagues of the two missing men.