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2 months ago
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Two little girls are among four people who were rescued at sea by the National Sea Rescue Institute this weekend.
- Two little girls are among four people who were rescued at sea this weekend.
- The girls, aged five and eight, were on an inflatable, which appears to have become deflated.
- They were rescued by a senior lifeguard.
Two little girls are among four people rescued after experiencing difficulties at Miller’s Point beach in the Western Cape.
The girls, aged five and eight, fell off their inflatable raft at around 12:43 and were struggling to stay afloat while treading water.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), the inflatable could have lost air.
Two adult members of the public then tried to assist and also ended up in trouble after a rip current pulled them out to sea.
Senior lifeguard Sedick Parker quickly reacted, grabbing an NSRI pink T-buoy to perform a rescue of all four.
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Soon after, both adults and both girls were brought to shore. One of the girls was foaming at the mouth, prompting Parker and a member of the public to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while quick-thinking bystanders alerted the City of Cape Town water rescue network.
According to NSRI Simon’s Town station commander, Darren Zimmerman, a pulse and spontaneous breathing were restored, and both children were handed over to paramedics for further medical care.
Meanwhile, two men, aged 35 and 39, from Mitchells Plain who were on a small inflatable, were blown out to sea, also at Miller’s Point on Friday.
The men had launched the small inflatable craft to go fishing, but were almost immediately caught in the strong south-easterly winds and were unable to row back to shore against the wind.
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They were rescued onto the NSRI rescue craft, and their vessel, which appeared to be a supermarket blow-up inflatable fishing craft, was recovered.
The men were not injured, were reunited with their families, and they required no further assistance.
In a separate incident at about 09:40 on Saturday, NSRI crews were called to a scene where a man from Durban had fallen from his surf-ski and was in distress between Roman Rock Lighthouse and Fish Hoek, also on Saturday.
Following a search, the NSRI rescue craft located the man floating in the water, and he was assisted onto the rescue craft.
“It was confirmed that he had fallen out of his surf-ski, and he was trying to swim to shore after his leash had snapped and his surf-ski had drifted away from him when a fellow surf-skier, a female, had happened upon him, finding him floating in the water, and had activated her NSRI SafeTRX emergency – to raise the alarm,” Zimmerman added.
The man was brought to Fish Hoek Beach onboard the NSRI rescue craft and was medically checked by Cape Medical Response paramedics. He was not injured and required no further assistance.
However, his surf-ski remains missing at sea between Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town.
