Staff of eco-estate hailed as heroes
They assisted a father and daughter who suffered from non-fatal drowning symptoms.
Wilson Mthembu and Bulelwa Bangani have been praised for swiftly raising the alarm and assisting in rescuing a father and daughter caught in rip currents at Rennies Beach in Port Edward on Tuesday last week.
Mthembu and Bangani of the Caribbean Estate staff, together with National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Port Edward, police including K9 Search and Rescue, lifeguards, and emergency medical services have been commended for their swift response.
As a result, the father (44) and daughter (11) from Gauteng are recovering in hospital.
Kyle Farrell, NSRI Port Edward training coxswain, said their duty crew, together with all emergency services, responded after eyewitness reports of a drowning in progress.
On the scene, NSRI rescue swimmers found the father and daughter had managed to get to shore after being caught in rip currents.
“It appears that they were on holiday from Gauteng. The family, comprising the father, his sister and his two daughters, were at the beach where they were using a swimming pool blow-up inflatable tube in the surf line when the father and one of his daughters were reportedly caught in rip currents,” said Farrell.
The father and daughter were desperately trying to get to shore and appeared to be holding onto the handles on the inflatable tube and swimming against the rip current.
“Eyewitnesses described how the two bathers kept being dunked in the waves, losing hold of the ‘floating device’ but then regaining a hold of it, and then hanging onto the floating device before being able to get to shallow water to wade ashore,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mthembu grabbed the NSRI pink rescue buoy at the beach and responded to the alarm raised by security officer Bangani, who was on beach patrol at the time.
They prepared to enter the water to assist, however, by that stage, the two bathers had reached shallow water, and they waded ashore and were helped onto the beach.
Both were suffering non-fatal drowning symptoms and were treated by KZN EMRS paramedics on the scene.
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