NSRI Honours Their Volunteers And Citizens At 2024 Agm And Bravery Awards Ceremony In Durban

On 19 JULY 2023, at the 57th Awards ceremony and Annual General Meeting at The Capital Zimbali in Ballito, the NSRI acknowledged and honoured more than fifty of its volunteers as well as four ordinary citizens who went above and beyond the call of duty in extraordinary endeavours to save lives.

From 1 January to 31 December 2023, the NSRI conducted 1,126 rescue operations, rescuing 1,822 people and 97 animals.

In total, 58 awards were presented during the ceremony, including 45 for rescues during the 2022 KZN floods. 17 Bronze and Silver Gallantry awards honouring the contributions of volunteers on rescues were presented, and for the first time in NSRI’s history, five Gold Gallantry awards were awarded to volunteers. Four Bravery awards were also presented at the ceremony to members of the public who were not affiliated with the NSRI.

STAND-OUT RESCUES AND SERVICE AWARDS

The NSRI has never before awarded a Gallantry Gold to one of its volunteers. They are the highest award the organisation can issue. It’s important to note that almost every day, NSRI volunteers perform incredible rescues, but most are seen as “part of the job” – even though the Sea Rescue crews do what they do for no compensation. Receiving a Gold, Silver or Bronze Gallantry Award is a recognition of extraordinary bravery and is truly admirable.

Five Gallantry Gold awards were presented this year, recognising rescues during the devastating April 2022 KZN floods. Teams, including other search and rescue organisations and some civilians, worked through the night in extreme weather and dangerous conditions to rescue trapped and stranded people by swimming, via boats and jet skis, and airlifting stranded flood victims and many animals to safety.

Among the Gallantry Gold Awards was Kevin Fourie and the team from Station 39, Rocky Bay, who performed numerous rescues on 11 April 2022. Along with national and local emergency services, the team provided aid and assistance in flood-related incidents along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline and inland. During the 15 hours they operated, this team rescued over 200 people. Noteworthy was their rescue of a man and a young girl from a tree.

Another Gold Gallantry hero, Tyron Brennan of Station 5, Durban, led a harrowing rescue in Westville, where they extracted a family of three and their dog trapped in their collapsed house due to surging swift water and landslides. Using a portable jaws-of-life and a sledgehammer, they rescued the son and the father, who had crawled to safety despite his injuries.

NSRI Gold Gallantry Award Winners

• Kevin Fourie, Station 39 Rocky Bay
• Travis Clark, Station 29 Rocky Bay
• Quentin Power, Station 41 Ballito
• Tyron Brennan, Station 5 Durban
• Johan Muller, Station 41 Ballito

The organisation also recognised Ian Wienburg (Station 3 Table Bay) and Marty Reddering (Station 14 Plettenberg Bay) for their 50 years of volunteering for the NSRI.

NSRI CEO Dr Cleeve Robertson said at the ceremony, “Providing a national strategic rescue service from an entirely volunteer workforce is remarkable. We owe our volunteers a huge debt of gratitude for their selfless attitude, work, and the lives they save.”

ORDINARY CITIZENS, EXTRAORDINARY BRAVERY

In addition to the NSRI member volunteer awards, four Bravery Awards were presented to members of the public who selflessly performed life-saving rescues in challenging conditions.

The civilian awards were presented to: 

Nehan Pretorius: For his courageous actions on 21 December 2023, while surfing at Victoria Bay near George, he went to the aid of a fellow surfer, Henry van Huysteen, who appeared to have suffered a seizure and fallen off his board into the water.

Members of the public who were recognised for their rescues during the Durban floods were:

• Jace Govender – Bravery Gold
• Ryan Hansen – Bravery Gold
• Leon Fourie – Bravery Gold

NSRI Operations Director Brett Ayres said, “The bravery of these citizens going to the aid of someone they did not know for no reward and saving a life reflects the ethos of our NSRI volunteers and deserves recognition. We salute them.”

FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE

The NSRI is a national volunteer rescue service on ocean and inland waters throughout South Africa and is 100% funded by public donations. The organisation is also the driver of an innovative Water Safety Programme that provides essential drowning prevention resources where basic water safety and swimming skills resources are sorely lacking. Over the past year alone, over 905,000 children were educated in water safety, and almost 18,000 survival swimming lessons were presented – absolutely free.

“We are incredibly proud of our volunteers, who work tirelessly towards our vision of a water-safe nation by implementing our mission of preserving life and livelihoods on and around South African waters through education, drowning prevention, and rescue,” says NSRI Board Chairperson Jonathan Vellosa.

NSRI volunteers train to be able to respond to an incredibly diverse range of emergencies, from swift water and flooding to medical evacuations off ships. From assisting commercial trawlers to helping leisure yachts. The organisation mobilises for fishermen, swimmers, anglers, hikers, paddlers and surfers. It achieves its purpose of saving lives, changing lives, and creating futures through water safety education, survival swimming lessons and active rescue missions.

The annual NSRI AGM and Awards Ceremony is an opportunity for the organisation to acknowledge and honour the selflessness of individuals and stations in their pursuit of safety and saving lives.

“Each and every award recipient has gone the extra mile. These people care deeply about others and are prepared to do what is needed. They are the people who make our country so special, and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude,” said Brett Ayres.