Richards Bay - Two children went missing and are presumed drowned at a beach in Richards Bay in Northern KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday afternoon, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.
NSRI Richards Bay duty crew, while at sea on a training exercise, were alerted just before 2pm to reports of two children missing in the water between Bay Hall and Pelican Beach, Richards Bay, spokesman Craig Lambinon said.
NSRI Richards Bay sea rescue craft diverted to the scene where a search started for the two children. Netcare 911 ambulance services were in attendance and the SA Police Service and a police dive unit were also activated.
“Despite an extensive search no sign of the missing children has been found and a police dive unit will take over an ongoing search operation,” he said.
“NSRI have not determined the ages of the missing children or if these missing children are male or female, as police have attended to family and the police are dealing with the details of the incident.”
It appeared that the ambulance service had been called to the scene only at least half an hour after the incident took place, and only once they arrived on the scene did they find that there were two children missing in the water. They then contacted sea rescue for assistance. The circumstances that led to the two children going missing in the water were not known, Lambinon said.
Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said reports indicated that three children went swimming and two disappeared under the water. The third child alerted bystanders who then called Netcare 911 to the scene.
“Netcare 911 paramedics and NSRI arrived at the scene, and after the area was pointed out, they dived into the water and started searching for the children. With the depth estimated at around 10 metres they were forced to wait for the police divers.”
Divers had not located the children by late afternoon and paramedics had handed the scene over to the police and were only doing standby duty, he said.
African News Agency