Chapmans Peak Vehicle Cliff Dive – NSRI Assist

Spencer Oldham, NSRI Hout Bay station commander, said: At 08h30, Sunday, 25 January, NSRI Hout Bay duty crew, at the NSRI Hout Bay station 8 rescue base preparing for routine training exercises, were alerted to reports of a motor vehicle accident, with reports of a motor vehicle left the Chapmans Peak Drive roadway and plunged down a cliff – it was unknown if the vehicle may have landed in the water.

CMR (Cape Medical Response) ambulance services, WC Government Health EMS ambulance and rescue squad, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, Cape Town Traffic Services, CoCT (City of Cape Town) Law Enforcement and the SA Police Services, were responding.

NSRI Hout Bay launched 2 NSRI rescue craft – Nadine Gordimer and Albie Matthews.

On arrival on the scene NSRI found a hatchback motor vehicle on rocks at the bottom of the cliff (below Chapmans Peak Drive – on the Noordhoek side) on the shoreline. The tide was outgoing.

3 NSRI rescue swimmers were deployed into the water and they swam ashore where they found 1 male, age 47, injured and trapped in the vehicle – medical care was initiated.

2 adult male bystanders, who it appears had climbed down the cliff to investigate, were on the scene.

A situation report was given to CMR paramedics who were on Chapmans Peak Drive, who had arrived first on the scene, the information was relayed to EMS Metro Control who activated the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter.

Police and Emergency Services were arriving on the scene and Cape Town Traffic Services, in cooperation with Chapmans Peak Drive TMNPA (Table Mountain National Parks), closed the roadway for the duration of this rescue operation.

In a rescue operation led by Metro EMS – EMS rescue technicians and extrication rescue tools were airlifted from Chapmans Peak Drive to the scene, by the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter – where the Metro EMS rescue technicians freed the injured man from the vehicle entrapment, providing medical care, assisted by the 3 NSRI rescue crew, while the NSRI rescue craft remained offshore nearby to assist further if needed.

The injured man, in a stable condition, was airlifted, accompanied by a Metro EMS rescue technician, to a landing zone established at Noordhoek, and he was transported to hospital by EMS ambulance.

One of the two bystanders, who had been on the scene, had climbed back up to the roadway, he was treated for minor injuries by paramedics before being released.

One of the bystanders, a cyclist, was airlifted to the roadway.

The remaining EMS rescue technicians were recovered from the scene by the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter.

The NSRI rescue crew deployed into the surf zone and swam to the NSRI rescue craft and they were recovered.
The cause of the accident is under investigation by Police.

The swift response and effective cooperation of all emergency services is commended.

Following this incident the NSRI Hout Bay rescue craft, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services and WC Government Health EMS responded to Soetwater, Kommetjie, where a boat had capsized.

On arrival on the scene the casualty boat was found washed ashore and the casualty crew were attended to by paramedics and they were not injured.

While departing from that incident, to return to base, in the vicinity of Soetwater, our NSRI rescue craft was flagged down by teenagers on a RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat), that had sustained motor mechanical failure.

NSRI towed the RHIB, with the 5 local male teenagers onboard, safely to Hout Bay where their craft was recovered without incident.