A holiday outing at Brenton-on-Sea Main Beach nearly turned tragic when a father and daughter were swept into powerful rip currents on December 6. Thanks to the quick thinking of a local sandcastle builder and the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Pink Rescue Buoy programme, both survived and are now recovering.

Innocent Zungu, a regular at the beach, said while at the ablution block on Brenton beach he heard a law-enforcement official shouting that ‘someone is drowning’, reports Knysna-Plett Herald.

He rushed onto the beach and saw two people in trouble.

“I grabbed an (NSRI) pink buoy and just dived into the water,” said Zungu, who has grown up in St Lucia, KZN with the sea and beach as part of his life.

He reached the girl first and heard the man say: “Save the girl, save the girl.”

The swimmers in trouble were a man and his daughter, Chris van Eck (45) and Nina (15), from Limpopo.

Zungu handed Nina the rope of the buoy and then swam towards Chris, with Nina and the buoy in tow. He said he could see Chris was exhausted after trying hard to get his daughter out.

‘We are going to make it out’

Zungu grabbed him and they all clung to the buoy. “We then had this very beautiful conversation between all of us. I told them, guys, listen, there’s no way to fight the rip. Let it take its course. What you need to do is flip forward and then just relax. The tide is going to take us out shortly. We’re going to make this. We’re going to make it out.”

Zungu said he grew up on the beach and observed how lifesavers operated.

He guided them towards the breakers where he told them to hang on as they surged forward. Eventually they could stand on the ocean floor – and the rest of the rescue team arrived.

Asked what motivated him, Zungu said: “I did what I had to do”.

Chris and Nina visited Zungu at his sand sculpture on Brenton beach the following day to thank him. They said it was important that more people are made aware of the NSRI Pink Rescue Buoys.

“If Innocent had not been there and knowing how to use the buoy, things might have turned out differently.”

The Van Eck family expressed their gratitude to Zungu, who said he was ’sent from above’.

“He is a strong swimmer and knew exactly what to do: How to work with the current, and how to remain calm,” said the Van Ecks.