JEFFREYS BAY, December 24 (ANA) – A paddler has been hospitalised after being rescued off shore of Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Saturday.
The NSRI duty crew in Jeffreys Bay were alerted at 10.45am after reports that a paddler may be missing during a paddle between St Francis Bay and Jeffreys Bay, NSRI Jeffreys Bay station commander Rieghard Janse van Rensburg said.
“Family reportedly had visuals on one of the two paddlers but the second paddler was nowhere to be seen and they raised the alarm. We dispatched our sea rescue quad bike, the sea rescue craft Eddie Beaumont II and Project Rescuer. One of our sea rescue crew, a pilot, borrowed an aircraft to join in the search,” he said.
“We found the one paddler on the beach near to Albatros, a 40-year-old local man, but his friend, a 53-year-old man from Kommetjie, Cape Town, who now lives in Hawaii, was missing and although we had cellphone contact with the man, in very strong off-shore gale force winds, it was difficult to pinpoint his position.”
The man was eventually found at about 12.30pm on the Port Elizabeth side at the Gamtoos River mouth where he had beached, three kilometres away from the original search area, and he was suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia.
While medical treatment commenced he was taken on board the sea rescue craft and brought to the Jeffreys Bay side of the Gamtoos River mouth where, with the assistance of “the Papiesfontein Horse Riding outfit, allowing us access and guiding us, we were able to reach the area by vehicle”.
The man was then transported in the sea rescue vehicle to a waiting Eastern Cape government health emergency medical services (EMS) ambulance and taken to hospital in a stable condition suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia, Janse van Rensburg said.
– African News Agency (ANA)
(Pic:NSRI)
