Grandad drowns in front of wife and grandchildren

A 63-YEAR-OLD Pretoria man has drowned on La Lucia’s beach front after a massive wave swept him off his feet, and dragged him into the surf. The heart-wrenching scene unfolded in front of his grandchildren and wife, who he had been walking with. The drowning occurred at about 11am this morning.

A local resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, witnessed the horrific scene unfold from her balcony window on Marine Drive.

“It was like a horrible nightmare. The grandfather had taken two of his grandchildren for a walk along the shore and this big wave crashed into them. All three of them were sucked in and the grandfather was knocked off his feet. The two young boys managed to swim out again.

“Unfortunately he didn’t survive and his grandchildren and wife were extremely traumatised by the incident,” she said.

Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the Durban North SAPS said the elderly man’s body washed up about a half hour later.

“Paramedics tried to desperately to revive him but unfortunately were not successful. The man was on holiday from Pretoria and decided to take his grandchildren for a stroll along the beach. His wife who was sitting on the beach a little bit behind them, witnessed the incident.

“From our initial reports, the man was just straddling the shore and was nowhere near the deep water when the wave, which came out of nowhere crashed into them. My deepest condolences go out to the family.” Deokaran said.