UPDATE: Bodyboarder shares chilling details on mass drowning rescue

“If I had a rescue craft, we could have saved all of them.” These were the chilling words of Gustav Lokotsch (37), one of the men who risked their own lives to save four teenagers from drowning at Toti Main Beach on Wednesday, 6 February.

Gustav, who was a lifeguard in Port Elizabeth and a member of the provincial lifesaving team from 1997 to 2005, was bodyboarding when he said he saw what he thought were three to five people screaming for help out the corner of his eye. “I caught a wave in, grabbed a bodyboard from a guy on the beach, paddled back out and gave the board to a lifeguard who had came to assist. One of the teens could hardly get on the board and the lifeguard only had a torpedo buoy.”

Gustav then swam back through the riptide, making it back to the beach exhausted but pushing himself to find another flotation device. “I saw a cop van with its blue lights flashing and a cop standing around with other people, not bothering to help.”

He eventually ran to the cafe where he was given a bodyboard by the owner. Three teens were still left in the water. The lifeguard made a decision to bring in the weakest one. “I could see the lifeguard Alex was exhausted after swimming through the riptide. I paddled back out and put the leash around the weakest of the two left. I battled to get him in.”

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It is understood that by then beach manager Jace Govender, who had knocked off work at 5pm, returned to the beach and launched a jetski to assist with the rescue. Gustav estimates that it was about 15 minutes from when he first saw the teens in trouble to when the jetski was launched.

He believes at least two people would have drowned if it were not for his and Alex’s intervention. “Alex deserves a special mention – he worked so hard. This was a tragedy. No-one is a hero. I see myself as a failure. No-one is a hero unless everyone comes back.

READ ALSO: Three teens rescued in mass Amanzimtoti drowning

“I get very emotional thinking about it. I had to calm myself and assess the situation quickly. Something like this could have been prevented if there was a craft somewhere accessible and there was someone to call who could be there in five minutes. We need a better procedure if something like this happens again.”