Notices

The CWR squad was activated to respond to Wells Estate tonight at 18:00, following reports of a drowning in progress. On arrival, info was received that a 16-year-old casualty got into trouble. A bystander on the beach witnessed this and went to her aid, but he lost his footing on the way out and did not manage to retrieve her from the surf. After swallowing water, he was rescued, but the 16-year-old casualty remained missing. The CWR members joined the duty lifeguards in the search, with NSRI Rescue 6A patrolling the backline and Rescue 6B assisting with a search in the surf closer to shore. The search efforts were unfortunately not successful and were called off at about 19:15.

The CWR squad was activated at 16:34 today to respond to Pollock Beach following reports of a casualty in trouble.

On arrival, the casualty was found out of the water after the lifeguards managed to reach him on a rescue board and retrieve him from the water.

The casualty was breathing and conscious but required further medical attention. Gardmed attended, and after medical checks, the casualty was taken to hospital for further medical intervention.

The CWR squad was activated to respond to Bluewater Bay Main Beach at 18:44 tonight.

According to reports received, there were initially two casualties (19 and 23 years old) in the water, the 19-year-old female was successfully retrieved by a local fisherman, but the second casualty, a 23-year-old male was still missing, last seen close to the last set of breakers and presumably caught in a rip current.

On arrival, CWR members entered the water to start a water search, and continued the search for about 30 minutes, with strong currents and fading light making the search effort very difficult.

NSRI Station 6 responded from the habour with their rescue craft Rescue 6C, and joined the search.

Unfortunately, none of the search efforts were successful, and the scene was handed over to the SAPS.

The Coastal Water Rescue squad was activated at 14:15 following reports of a drowning in progress in the Swartkops River. On arrival, the squad found that several children had been swimming, and one (15-year-old male) got into trouble and disappeared under the water.

As the location was a fair distance from the vehicles and there was no craft on scene yet, the Ark Inflatables Rescue Croc was used to get the first two swimmers to the scene, with other members proceeding to the scene on foot.

The members did an initial search of the immediate area without any success.

NSRI Station 6 responded with their jet-rib and joined the search.

The SAPS Dive Unit took over the search and performed an extensive underwater search without any success.

The CWR squad was activated to respond to the Swartkops River near the M17 bridge following reports of two fishermen stuck on a sandbank and unable to return. On arrival at approximately 20:10 CWR members joined SAPS SK2 and started looking for the location, but were unable to locate the casualties.

The remaining squad members were standing by ready to deploy the Ark Rescue Croc to assist.

The bank search was continued down towards the M17 bridge.

At about 20:25 further information was received that the casualties possibly made it across. They were found in good spirits, a passing boat saw their predicament and ferried them across the river and they were able to return to the car park on foot.

This afternoon the CWR squad was activated to respond to Sardinia Bay following reports of a drowning in progress.

When the first swimmers arrived at Sardinia Bay car park at about 15:30, it was reported that two children went swimming and were in trouble. On arrival at the actual scene, it was reported that an adult male had also gone into the water to assist both children but then got into trouble himself.

A brave female bystander had already assisted one child back to safety and had suffered cuts from the rocks. At the time, the adult male and the other child were still in the water hanging onto the rocks in the surf breaking zone.

Rescue swimmers from CWR and a rescue swimmer from NSRI reached both and brought them back to safety one by one. The adult male suffered multiple cuts and bruises over his body from being smashed into the rocks. NSRI assisted in driving the casualty over the beach and Sardinia Bay's large sand dune back to the main car park. CWR members assisted with the initial medical care.

The adult male was handed over to Gardmed Ambulance service, who transported him to hospital for further checkups and treatment.