A Centurion teenager and his father have been commended by the NSRI for rushing to the aid of a young girl who got into difficulty at Wilderness beach on Friday.
NSRI Wilderness deputy station commander, Mike Vonk, said 16-year-old Jaden Delport and his 51-year-old father, Henrico, were able to bring the exhausted girl safely to shore.
He said the father and son were at Wilderness beach on Friday afternoon when Jaden “noticed someone being swept out to sea by a rip current”.
“Jaden immediately responded by rushing into the surf and started swimming towards a female teenager who was being pulled out to sea by rip currents while she had been swimming in the surf,” he said.
“His dad, anxious for both his son's safety and the safety of the girl, grabbed an NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy, which is positioned at the entrance of the beach, and he ran into the water after the two of them,” said Vonk.
He said by that stage Jaden had reached the female who had been pulled out some distance halfway towards the backline and was exhausted from fighting the rip current.
Vonk said Jaden tried to just push her towards the beach in the breaking surf when his father arrived and passed the Pink Rescue Buoy to the girl and helped to pull her to shore.
He said once on shore the girl was whisked away and she left the beach with her family.
Vonk also said that when the rescue unfolded a member of the public from Cape Town who is a regular visitor to the Wilderness, known only as Casey, called the emergency telephone number on the Pink Rescue Buoy signboard.
“The NSRI commends Jaden and his dad Henrico, and ‘Casey’ for this tremendous effort to save this girl's life”.
Vonk said the NSRI was aware of 13 lives being saved as a result of their Pink Rescue Buoy campaign.
(Pic: NSRI)
