A swim on the afternoon of Christmas Day ended in tragedy, after a teenager was swept out to sea in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) deputy station commander Jonathan Tufts said the boy was swept over the sea wall of Seaview Resorts tidal pool in Beach View due to large waves owed to Spring high tide.
ALSO READ: Durban beach drowning claims three lives
Swift response
Tufts said an NSRI rescue craft was dispatched, while rescue swimmers, Coastal Water Rescue, police and Eastern Cape emergency services responded.
The NSRI’s emergency operations centre also contacted Transnet ports, which broadcast an alert for Chokka fishing vessels in the area to keep a lookout.
The 14-year-old male, from Zimbabwe, is still missing, despite two days of searching, but rescue efforts are continuing.
Festive season marred by drownings
On Christmas Eve, a man drowned in Melbosstrand, Cape Town, after being swept out to sea by rip currents in rough ocean conditions.
NSRI Melkbosstrand rescue swimmers and NSRI medics, Western Cape emergency services, community medics, ER24 ambulance services, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, police, Big Bay lifeguards, and Melkbosstrand neighbourhood watch members responded to join City of Cape Town lifeguards on the scene.
But despite extensive resuscitation efforts, the man was declared dead by paramedics.
In KwaZulu-Natal, a 19-year-old teeanger drowned while he and his father were swimming at Vidal Bay.
NSRI St Lucia station commander Jan Hoffman said the teenager and his father got caught in rip currents. The father managed to reach rocks nearby and called for help.
A group of youngsters used a bodyboard to retrieve the lifeless body of the teenager.
Despite extensive CPR efforts by NSRI medics, the teeanger was declared dead at the scene.
The NSRI appealed to beachgoers to always swim at beaches protected by lifeguards, and to only swim between demarcated swimming zone posts.
NOW READ: eThekwini Municipality debunks fake drowning reports
