uMhlanga runner saves drowning woman
Brave resident jumps into the icy sea to save the woman who kept being pulled under on eMdloti beach.
AN uMhlanga resident braved the rough and icy seas in eMdloti to rescue a drowning woman on Sunday. Cameron Hofer, was running the Bummer Beach 23 kilometre Run from Ballito to uMhlanga, when he heard the frantic calls for help. What’s more, after rescuing the woman, the 22-year-old then completed his race. The seas was so rough that the swim segment at the Ironman 70.3 Durban triathlon was cancelled.
The former Northwood School pupil and a local surfer came to the woman’s aid and helped her to shore.
“It was around the 17 kilometre mark when a man ran out of the water shouting ‘she needs help, she needs help’. I put down my backpack and took off my shoes and ran into the sea. Initially she didn’t want to be helped but I could just see her face in the water, but she kept going under. I just thought I needed to get her out of there.”
“A surfer who saw she was having difficulty then came over and we helped her onto his board. We paddled to the shore where she was helped by other passerbys. When I jumped in I wasn’t really fearing for my life, I just wanted to save her. After getting out of the water, I put on my shoes and my backpack and completed the race,” he said.
