At 15h44, Wednesday, 9 August, NSRI Hout Bay and NSRI Bakoven duty crews were activated by NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) following eye-witness reports of a male teenager caught in rip currents after being swept off rocks on the shoreline below the Llandudno Sandy Bay parking area.
NSRI rescue swimmers responded directly to the scene while NSRI rescue craft were launched and the SA Police Services and WC Government Health EMS rescue squad and ambulance were activated.
EMS Metro Control activated the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter.
The CoCT water rescue network was alerted and CoCT (City of Cape Town) Law Enforcement responded to assist.
On arrival on the scene an extensive search commenced for a 17 year old local male who was last seen in heavy sea surf approximately 300 to 400 meters off-shore.
It appears he had been in shallow surf on rocks on the shoreline with friends when reportedly a wave may have swept him off his feet and we believe he had attempted to swim with sea currents to escape the rocky shoreline.
Despite an extensive sea, air and shoreline search there remained no sign of the teenager.
The Police Dive Unit was activated and accompanied by the EMS rescue squad drone unit, Hout Bay Police and NSRI, an extensive search using a rescue drone, with a FLIR (Thermal Imaging Camera Technology), and shoreline patrols was continued into the night but there remains no sign of the missing teenager.
The Police Dive Unit, assisted by EMS rescue squad and emergency services, are continuing in an ongoing search operation.
Thoughts are with the family and friends of the missing teenager in this difficult time.
UPDATE 10 August 2023:
Family of missing RYDER KOSSATZ, age 17, of Hout Bay, have extended their heartfelt thanks to all for the overwhelming support they have received since Ryder went missing at Llandudno on Wednesday afternoon.
Family has respectfully requested privacy in this difficult time.
A search operation headed by the Police Dive Unit is ongoing.
Thoughts remain with family and friends of Ryder in this difficult time.
2nd Update 10 August 2023:
NSRI are appealing to the public and seafarers along the Atlantic Seaboard, in particular between Camps Bay and Hout Bay, to be the lookout for an NSRI pink rescue buoy that may have washed out along the shoreline or may be adrift at sea.
It is believed that the rescue buoy, stationed at Llandudno, was thrown towards missing teenager Ryder Kossatz after he was swept away in sea currents at the Sandy Bay parking area in Llandudno on Wednesday.
It appears that sadly Ryder had not managed to reach the rescue buoy before he disappeared.
If the pink rescue buoy is spotted adrift at sea OR if spotted washed up on the shoreline please call the NSRI emergency number 0870949774 (NSRI EOC Emergency Operations Centre) or vessels at sea can contact Cape Town Radio on VHF marine radio channel 16.
Please also plot the position or provide an accurate description of where the missing pink buoy is found.
The hope is that once the missing pink buoy is located this will assist to determine the drift of the sea that appears to have had no normal drift patterns on the day due to extensively rough sea conditions that prevailed on Wednesday and into Thursday and may lead to assisting helping Police in their ongoing search to locate missing Ryder Kossatz
Telkom Maritime Radio Services, in cooperation with MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre), TNPA (Transnet National Ports Authority) and the South African Police Services, are broadcasting an all ships alert for vessels in the area along the Atlantic seaboard to be on the lookout for the missing pink rescue buoy.
troubadour
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty astonishing guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.
Mother Hen
Bitter koud — very cold. An Afrikaans phrase meaning ‘bitter cold’, often used to describe the cold weather during winter.Example: “Oh, my gosh! It’s bitter koud outside!”