A 15-year old boy who got caught in the surf at Beach Break in Jeffrey's Bay was saved by three Australian surfers on Monday afternoon.
NSRI Jeffrey's Bay station commander Rieghard Janse van Rensburg, said his wife, Eidie, noticed a child appearing to be in difficulty. "She immediately activated our NSRI Jeffreys Bay duty crew but very shortly thereafter that child came out of the water and he was screaming out that his friend had disappeared under water."
The missing child had not been noticed before this alert.
While eyewitnesses reported that the child has disappeared under the water, it transpired that three visiting Australian surfers rescued the boy at Beach Break in Jeffreys Bay.
The visitors are Mitchell Ellis, Nate Searle and Luca Stevenson and the 15-year-old boy, whose name was not given to the media, was from Welkom in the Free State.
Janse van Rensburg said it appeared that Ellis, Searle and Stevenson had come across the teenager in the surf breaker line. They had grabbed the teenager and together they had managed to bring him onto the beach and Eidie, by now on the beach and finding the teenager to be in a serious condition, requested urgent medical assistance," he said.
"We dispatched our sea rescue vehicle to the scene and on arrival our NSRI medics commenced medical treatment to the teenager who showed signs of non-fatal drowning symptoms, hypothermia and exhaustion."
"We placed the teenager on oxygen, a heated blanket and an emergency space blanket were applied and the EC Government Health EMS arrived on the scene, and they have transported the teenager to hospital in a stable condition for observation for secondary drowning and for continuing medical treatment," Janse van Rensburg said.
The teenager is expected to make a full recovery.
Janse van Rensburg commended the three visitors for their actions.
