Cape Town - A man’s alleged bid to steal a bottle of wine in Sea Point on Saturday almost cost him his life, after he fled into the sea at Mouille Point to escape security guards, then had to be rescued by the NSRI.
He could hardly speak when NSRI staff pulled him out, shivering, exhausted and disoriented in front of the putt putt golf course on Beach Road.
He told his rescuers that he was 39, and homeless.
Although police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said he could find no record of the theft, a staffer at Woolworths in Sea Point confirmed that the man had allegedly stolen a bottle of wine, then had been chased towards the Promenade by security guards.
When the fugitive reached the edge of the Promenade, he jumped over the barrier and into the sea.
Patrick van Eyssen, NSRI Rescue Three station commander, said the man, who gave his name as Horn, could easily have drowned.
People at the scene said
the man tried to swim out to sea, but started to turn back when someone shouted to him that it was dangerous.
Another member of the public notified the NSRI and the rescue team arrived and were in the sea to rescue him within 10 minutes.
Van Eyssen said that Horn was suffering from mild hypothermia, but would need to be checked properly.
“He kept going underneath. He would have taken in a fair amount of water,” Van Eyssen said.
He said if Horn had fallen asleep from the cold he could have drowned from water in his lungs.
Horn sat in the NSRI car, shivering under a blanket, until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.
Weekend Argus