Brave lifeguard rescues two bathers on uMhlanga Beach
The lifeguard responded to the call for help immediately and saved both men's lives.
A HEROIC act by lifeguard, Mfana Zondi, saw two lives being saved on uMhlanga Beach recently after he selflessly rescued the bathers who got into difficulty in a rip current.
Zondi, who hails from La Mercy, said he was stationed at a hotel near the beach on the day when he received news that there was trouble on the beach.
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“I was told that two bathers were in trouble in the water. I immediately ran to assist,” he said.
Usually, a lifeguard would take equipment with him to perform such a rescue operation but Zondi said there was no time for that so he dove straight in and started to assist the two men who were in difficulty.
Zondi yelled instructions to both bathers on how to swim across the rip.
One of them made it out safely but the other battled.
“The bathers were a 16-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man. The man followed my instructions and was taken back safely to shore. I then went back in the water for the teenager who was struggling. I could see he was losing consciousness,” said Zondi.
The lifeguard got the teenager to do a breathing technique to help him gain composure.
By then another lifeguard, MJ Mkhize, reached them on a jetski, but even that was not without difficulty as the jetski flipped before it could reach Zondi and the bather.
Footage of the rescue operation showed how Zondi’s heroic act unfolded and resulted in two lives being saved.
The person filming the rescue said, while recording, that the mother of the teenage boy had apparently fainted while the rescue was happening.
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