Durban - A Westville man who rushed to help two young swimmers in difficulty at North beach on Wednesdayday got into trouble himself and for a while feared the worst.
Gary Friedman said things got “scary” when the terrified children clutched on to him, causing him to struggle in the water.
Friedman and his fiancée, Devra Smith, were swimming in the area in front of the Milky Lane when he noticed two little boys roughly 50m away who seemed to be struggling to keep their heads above water.
Smith said that strangely enough, she and Friedman did not usually visit North Beach, and they rarely ventured into the water.
“When we arrived at the beach on Wednesday, I told him that helping a woman to put up her umbrella would be his good deed for the day,” Smith said. Not long afterwards she was proved wrong when Friedman, 58, noticed the two children in need of help.
“They must have been 6 or 7 years old. Seeing them struggle, trying to help is something you naturally do,” Friedman said.
But with both children clinging to him in panic, Friedman himself began to battle, and to swallow water.
“It was scary,” he told The Mercury on Wednesday, home safely but sunburnt and with aching muscles.
Thankfully, lifeguards quickly spotted the three, and plucked them from the deep water.
The children were not in need of medical attention, and Friedman declined any assistance – despite Smith’s concern that he was not “100% conscious”.
“He nearly died himself,” she said, lavishing praise on her fiancé, who she called a reluctant hero.
The incident left Friedman with renewed respect for lifeguards.
“What they do is not easy. People must watch their children, and listen to lifeguards. Lifeguards really do a difficult job – when they tell you to get out of the water or to swim in a certain area they are protecting your life.”
The couple were also moved by the kindness of other beachgoers who offered cold water, and sweets to treat the shock.
Friedman did not get to ask the children’s names or meet their families, but hopes they might run into one another on the beach sometime.
The Mercury
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