Surf rescue saves four at Scottburgh’s Rocky Bay

A family was saved at Rocky Bay beach recently thanks to local heroes and lifeguards. A family of four holidaymakers, who hail from both Zimbabwe and Johannesburg, were extremely grateful to be alive after nearly drowning.

“At 9.29am on Friday, April 19, NSRI Rocky Bay was activated following reports of a drowning in progress at a beach in front of the caravan park – a beach that is not protected by lifeguards,” said station commander, Kevin Fourie.

Brothers, Jesse (13) and Connor (12) Visser were the first to be caught up in the rip currents and were swept out some 50m into the breakers.

Another member of the family, Nelson De Aveiro (39), was already in the water and when he noticed the boys in trouble, he attempted to assist.

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Dylan Mellem (43), was on the beach when he saw his family in distress.

“I grabbed a body board and followed Nelson to help the boys,” said Dylan.

Jesse, even though his own life was in danger, still managed to keep his brother above water.

“I was really scared, but I’m happy that my brother was with me and there to help me,” said Connor.

A bystander saw the family struggling and entered the water to assist.

“NSRI rescue swimmers and Tower 13 Lifesaving lifeguards responded. Two of the Tower 13 lifeguards entered the heavy surf to assist the four swimmers caught in strong rip currents,” said Mr Fourie.

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By this time, Connor had been brought ashore, but Nelson had been swept even further out to sea and Jesse and Dylan still needed rescuing. Another bystander entered the water in his sea kayak.

“By this time I was already so tired and had hardly any energy left because I’d been in the water for so long and had to keep my head above water,” said Nelson.

Just as the kayaker reached Nelson and he thought he was out of trouble, the strong currents tipped the kayak over. The lifeguards came to their aid and helped Nelson back to shore.

In the process, he hurt his back on the rocks. “Funnily enough, I was happy when I reached the rocks, even though it hurt, as it allowed me to catch my breath.”

Dylan, with the aid of his body board, managed to bring Jesse back to shore with the help of another lifeguard.

“It was a really rough sea. There was even a point where I noticed that one of the lifeguards had a problem before finding his way back to shore,” added Nelson.

The only injuries reported were the cuts to Nelson’s back.

“On behalf of my entire family, we would like to express our appreciation to the bystanders who put their lives on the line to help us. The man with the kayak, the guy who helped Connor – we don’t know your names but you know who you are. Thanks also go out to the lifeguards and NSRI team for all their efforts,” said Dylan.

Mr Fourie commended the lifeguards for rescuing the swimmers in trying conditions and getting them safely to shore.

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