Festive season off to a good start, says municipality

AFTER the first “peak” weekend of the 2017 festive season, the Festive Season Management Committee (FESMAC) has reported that with the beaches packed to capacity, minimum glitches were experienced.

Acting chairperson of FESMAC, Malcolm Canham, said the peak weekend provided an opportunity for all the safety systems put in place to be tested.

“Lifeguards and other law enforcement officers were kept busy throughout the weekend, as people filled up the beaches,” said Canham.

He also applauded the park and ride system which he described as a big success.

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“All taxis and buses were directed to the Drive-Inn Site and some private vehicles parked at the Centrum Site. This resulted in a free flow of traffic on the beachfront.”

Statistics for the long weekend (15-17 December 2017) were as follows at all beaches around the City:

• At Central beaches approximately 127 180 patrons were recorded on the beach, the southern region recorded 92 000 patrons and the northern region recorded 16 0000.

• About 92 rescue operations were carried out and 1542 people received first aid treatment, mostly from blue bottle stings.
• Approximately 252 children were separated from their parents/guardians. A chunk of this number came from the central beaches with 215. They were all reunited, thanks to the 41 103 armbands issued to all children at the beaches.
• From the Cleansing and Solid Waste Department, 165 staff members worked on a three shift system daily and 980 530 tons of litter was collected. Members of the public are urged to keep the City clean by ensuring that they throw their litter in the bins provided.eThekwini Municipality’s Head of Communications, Tozi Mthethwa said two fatal incidents were reported at the beach at the weekend.

“A 70-year old male died at Winkelspruit beach after he suffered a heart attack while bathing in knee-deep water on Saturday, 16 December.  Another man experienced difficulty while on a dive charter 10km into sea on Monday morning, 18 December. After paramedics attempted to resuscitate him for approximately 15 minutes he was pronounced dead. SAPS are investigating both incidents,” said Mthethwa. 

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