Jeffreys Bay - A man drowned at Jeffreys Bay, apparently after being sucked underwater by a wave at the weekend, Eastern Cape police said on Monday.
Spokeswoman Gerda Swart said friends with whom Frans Gerber, 47, from Joubertina in the Eastern Cape, had been swimming on Sunday afternoon had tried to rescue him.
“He was allegedly surprised by a wave that pulled him under the water. Gerber went under and friends went to this rescue but it was in vain,” said Swart in a statement.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute, bystanders tried to resuscitate him but paramedics declared him dead when they arrived on the scene.
His family, who were at the beach, were attended to by police trauma counsellors. - Sapa