Notices
On Wednesday 27 November at 15h22 a notice was received from the Water Emergency Rescue Committee of a drowning that occurred in the Motherwell area.
The squad was not activated due to the time of the call (the call to the emergency services was only made approximately an hour after the incident). Two squad members attended the scene to offer assistance to the other emergency services.
A group of young children were swimming in an irrigation pond next to the Addo road using polystyrene for flotation, when one of the children fell off, and disappeared under water.
The SAPS divers, after a long underwater search, recovered the body of the young casualty.
Services on scene: SAPS Divers, Fire Department, EMS, SAPS Sector Vehicle, BWBLSC
On Wednesday 27 November, while on scene in Motherwell, another report was received of a drowning that had occurred near Kwanobuhle. From info received, it appeared that a group of children had walked approximately 1.5km's up the dry riverbed from Kwanobuhle to the waterhole to swim. One of the children got into trouble and disappeared under water.
Our members proceeded to the location, in Rocklands, to observe the terrain and conditions in order to plan for a recovery. Access was granted onto private land by the land owner, who accompanied the SAPS Divers and our 4x4 vehicles to the nearest vehicle accessible point at the swimming hole, from where it was a 100m walk down a very steep slope to access the water hole at the bottom.
Specialist rigging equipment was required and a recovery could not be attempted at the time. The SAPS Divers planned to do the recovery on Thursday 28 November.
Services on scene: SAPS Divers, Coastal Water Rescue (Prior SAPS Kwanobuhle, EMS Rescue)
On Thursday 7 November the CWR squad was activated following a report of a possible drowning in progress at Kings Beach, near the harbour wall. The lifeguards from Beach Office were also responding. On route CWR were notified that the casualty was out of the water, and was being transported to the medical room at Kings Beach for medical attention. A stand down was issued to the squad.
Services on Scene: Beach Office, Coastal Water Rescue, SAPS Dive Unit, EMS
On Thursday 7 November the CWR squad was activated following report of a drowning in progress in Seaview. En route to the location was further information received that the casualty was removed from the water by bystanders, but was deceased. A stand down was isued to the squad.
Services on Scene: EMS, Coastal Water Rescue, SAPS Sector Vehicle, Beach Office
The CWR squad was activated on Wednesday 06 Nov 2019 at 13:57 after reports from the Water Emergency Rescue Committee of a drowning in progress in a dam in Motherwell. On arrival it was found that two young children went swimming in a dam area formed by a storm water overflow. Both children got into trouble.
On arrival, the community members had already recovered the body of the one casualty, but one was still missing. Due to the condition of the water and surrounds it was not possible to deploy swimmers into the dam. A CWR member assisted the SAPS Dive Unit with the search. Waders were also used to search. The body of the second casualty was recovered from the deeper water, and the scene was handed over to the SAPS for further investigation.
Services on Scene: SAPS Sector Vehicle, SAPS Divers, Fire & Emergency, Coastal Water Rescue
Today at 11:52 the CWR squad was activated via the Water Emergency Rescue Committee to a vehicle had left the road on the N2 bridge and fell into the Swartkops River. The vehicle which had five occupants landed upside down in the river below the bridge. Two occupants were rescued by witnesses of the accident, rescue personnel and lifesavers, and taken to hospital by private and state EMS. The other 3 were recovered from the vehicle and declared deceased at the scene.
On Sunday 27 October the CWR squad assisted the SAPS to retrieve a person believed to be stuck on an island. On arrival however it was found that the person was in fact on the other side of the Swartkops River, and not on an island as was believed.
One of the CWR members joined the SAPS Dive Unit on their ARK Inflatables Rescue Croc and assisted the person across the river.
Services on Scene: CWR, SAPS Dive Unit, SAPS Zwide
On Saturday 26 October the squad responded to Wells Estate to assist after reports of a drowning incident. Three people went into the water about about 20:30 and got into trouble. One person made it out of the water and was attended to by EMS, one person was unfortunately declared deceased on the scene, and one person was missing.
Due to dangerous sea conditions and lack of visibility the squad only did a shallow water search, with vehicles from both CWR and BWBLSC assisting. Unfortunately the person was not found, and the scene was handed over to the SAPS.
Services on Scene: CWR, BWBLSC, SAPS Swartkops, SAPS Divers, Beach Office, EMS
