A man drowned at the Fish River Mouth in the Eastern Cape on Saturday after being swept away by the tide, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.
NSRI Port Alfred station commander Juan Pretorius said duty crew were activated shortly before 11am following reports of a 16 foot cabin boat with two men on board in difficulty in the Fish River Mouth. The SA Police Service search and rescue and Holistic ambulance services also responded.
“The Sea Rescue craft Rescue 11 Alpha was launched on the river in a strong outgoing tide and on arrival on the scene the sea rescue craft beached on a sandbank and NSRI rescuers waded to a fisherman, aged in his 50s, from Port Elizabeth, who was with the cabin boat on a sandbank.
“The man confirmed that his friend, aged in his 40s, from Port Elizabeth, had been swept away when their boat was being swept into the river mouth by the strong outgoing tide while they were fishing from the cabin boat on the river,†Pretorius said.
They had both got out of the boat when it came to rest on a shallow sandbank. The boat broadsided to the tide and while attempting to point the boat into the tide his friend had been swept away and disappeared.
NSRI rescuers and police search and rescue divers assisted the man to the shore. He was suffering from shock and was transported to hospital by ambulance. Fishermen at Bats Cave then confirmed that the body of the missing man had come ashore at Bats Cave.
Pretorius extended the NSRI’s sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the fisherman.
– African News Agency (ANA)
