Durban - A 24-year-old lifeguard is thought to have drowned after he fell off a rescue ski off Addington Beach on Saturday.
Sandile Owen Dlamini, from uMlazi, had been paddling with four other lifeguards during routine training when his rescue ski capsized. He has not been seen since.
National Sea Rescue Institute spokesman Craig Lambinon said that at about 5.10pm, the NSRI Durban had launched a sea rescue craft.
He said a Transnet National Ports Authority rescue helicopter and a Police Search and Rescue unit had also responded.
“On arrival on-scene, the NSRI, the rescue helicopter and the police joined lifeguards who were searching for their fellow member, but despite an extensive search, which lasted until after dark, there was no sign of the missing lifeguard,” he said.
Dlamini qualified as a lifeguard in 2007 and has been a member of the SA Lifesaving Club since then.
Ken Burt, the club’s vice- chairman, said they had been searching for Dlamini since 6am on Sunday.
“Because of the current, we are unsure at this stage as to where he could be,” he said. “But we believe it is unlikely he is alive.
“He most probably drowned.”
Burt said it normally took about three days for a body to surface in the ocean.
“But we will keep searching until we find him,” he said. - Daily News