11 Pink Buoys to boost bathers’ safety in uMhlanga
Drowning hotspots have been identified between Durban View Park and the end of the uMhlanga Promenade.
BATHERS in uMhlanga are safer than ever before, thanks to the installation of 11 new National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) pink rescue buoys along the beachfront.
Two consecutive drowning incidents on Monday, February 20, and Thursday, February 23, which claimed the lives of a 29-year-old man from Phoenix and a 47-year-old Russian tourist, prompted NSRI Station Five to take action and find the necessary sponsorship for the uMhlanga Pink Rescue buoy project.
Working alongside lifeguards, drowning hotspots were identified between Durban View Park and where the viewing deck at Breakers Resort used to be, and the new rescue buoys were positioned accordingly for maximum visibility and easy access, bringing the total number of Pink Buoys to 13.
“We were concerned about the people who drowned here in that one week,” said NSRI Station Five crew member and uMhlanga Pink Buoy project coordinator, Dion Beneke.
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He said only two of the buoys are at protected beaches (uMhlanga Main and Bronze beaches) where they are most frequently needed after hours when the lifeguards have already gone home; the rest are all at unprotected beaches where strong currents and deep gulleys pose the greatest risk to bathers.
“Black Rock in front of the Umhlanga Sands Hotel, where currents swirl between the rocks and the sandbanks to form an eddy, is especially active in terms of rescues. People swimming close to shore often get caught up in the counter-current circular flow,” said Beneke.
Simple ‘how to’ instructions are clearly printed on the buoy mounting posts: Call 112 for help and quote the location number; only strong swimmers go in with a Pink Buoy; swim slowly across the current, then back to shore.
The corresponding location numbers that appear on the buoy and the mounting pole coordinate with GPS location information at the NSRI emergency operations centre (EOC), sending the rescue team to the exact location of the incident.
Also read: Russian tourist drowns on uMhlanga Beach
Beneke said the buoys have enough flotation capacity to hold six children or three adults and can therefore, if the rescuer is not strong enough to drag the buoy back to shore, comfortably hold the rescuer and the victim to stabilise the situation until more help arrives.
“We are not actively encouraging people to go into the water when someone is in trouble, but we know people are going to go anyway, so the buoys are just making it safer for Dad, big brother or uncle to help a loved one.”
Beneke said that, to date, the Pink Buoys have saved 144 lives in South Africa with zero injuries to civilian rescuers. He said that theft was sometimes a problem, and he reminded people that a stolen Pink Buoy does not only cost R1 500 to replace but could also cost a life.
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