Ryan Holmes, NSRI Gordons Bay station commander, said: At 10h07, Saturday, 29 March, NSRI Kleinmond duty crew were activated following reports from a local private boat and from NSRI coast watchers of a boat with 2 crew onboard, a husband and wife, from Gordons Bay, in difficulty offshore of Rooi-Els and threatening to run aground on the rocky shoreline.
NSRI Gordons Bay duty crew were placed on alert.
At least 4 local boats, Good Samaritans, had gone to the assistance at the scene where the 2 casualty crew were rescued onto a private local boat that then attempted to tow the casualty boat away from the shoreline when the casualty boat capsized.
The skipper of the private boat that rescued the 2 casualties reported that they were heading towards Gordons Bay reporting injuries.
NSRI Kleinmond dispatched their NSRI rescue vehicle, towing their rescue craft JetRib, and an NSRI Gordons Bay rescue vehicle responded to the scene while the NSRI Gordons Bay rescue craft Spirit of Surfski was launched.
Our NSRI Gordons Bay rescue craft rendezvoused with the private Good Samaritan boat, at Rooi-Els, where the 2 casualties were transferred onto the NSRI rescue craft where medical treatment was commenced.
The casualty capsized boat was close to the shoreline and not able to be recovered.
NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) alerted WC Government Health EMS Metro Control and an EMS ambulance was dispatched to NSRI Gordons Bay station 9 rescue base.
On arrival at the NSRI Gordons Bay rescue base the 2 casualties were attended to by EMS paramedics and following medical treatment they required no further assistance.
They were reunited with family members at the NSRI Gordons Bay rescue base.
The casualty boat remains adrift semi submerged capsized. An all ships alert navigational warning is being broadcast by Telkom Maritime Radio Services.
The owner will make arrangements to recover the casualty boat.
The assistance of the local private boats that attended at the scene, contributing to saving the lives of the 2 casualties, is commended.
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Fun South African Fact: Mandela’s house on Vilakazi Street is now a museum. The man who the street was named after, Dr BW Vilakazi, was a poet, novelist and intellectual. He helped develop the written form of both isiZulu and siSwati and helped put together the isiZulu dictionary.
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