A man on holiday with his family drowned while fishing with friends in Mossel Bay in the Western Cape on Friday.
It is believed the man, who was from Strand, Cape Town, was shoreline angling with his friends from a shallow sand bank in Dana Bay when he was swept away by a current, said the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
An off-duty fire and rescue services officer who was at Dana Bay at the time reported the drowning in progress to the NSRI Mossel Bay crew.
A large team, consisting of two NSRI rescue craft, a rescue vehicle, rescue swimmers, the Western Cape government’s emergency services rescue squad, the Mossel Bay fire and rescue services, law enforcement and the SA Police Service, was sent out to the scene just after midday.
When they arrived on the scene, they found one man who was helped from the water uninjured while another was missing.
“His friend tried to save him but also it appears he got into difficulty before being able to get to shore where he was assisted,” NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said.
He said members of the public spotted the second man in the surf zone and he was recovered to the beach by an NSRI rescue swimmer and fire and rescue services swimmers
“CPR efforts were commenced by paramedics … After extensive efforts to resuscitate the man were exhausted, sadly he was declared deceased,” Lambinon said.
The body of the man, 32, was taken by the government health forensic pathology services while police are investigating an inquest.
Source TimesLIVE
