Durban - By drinking rainwater squeezed out of his shirt and dew from the grass near him, a Waterfall man, incapacitated by a broken leg, survived for three days in a ravine hoping he would be rescued.
Justin Williamson, 32, described as a nature lover, was reported missing by his family last Monday after he had left home to catalogue and take pictures of plants in the area.
The missing person's report led to a frantic three-day search by community organisation SA Community Crime Watch, police officers and local residents.
Williamson later recounted to his rescuers that he had fallen into the ravine and had lost his cellphone when he fell.
He told his rescuers that he managed to stave off dehydration by drinking the rainwater that had soaked into his shirt.
He also drank the dew from the grass on which he had landed.
He was found last Thursday in the KwaXimba area, outside Cato Ridge.
His family became concerned about him when they could not reach him on Monday, leading them to contact non-profit watchdog group South African Community Crime Watch.
A team, including police, private security officers and community organisation
SA Community Crime Watch members carry Justin Williamson on a stretcher after
he was found at the bottom of a ravine in KwaXimba, outside Cato Ridge.
Williamson’s father Calvin told The Mercury on Sunday that his son was recovering well.
“He goes out quite often but nothing like this had happened to him before. We don’t always know which direction he’s going in, so when we can’t reach him, we worry.”
The area is also known for its poor cellphone signal coverage.
Steven King, chief executive of SA Community Crime Watch, said he advised the family to contact police to report Williamson missing before they could launch a search.
King and his team put together a flyer, complete with Williamson’s description and picture, which they distributed countrywide.
“We began looking at his regular routes to see if we could trace him.”
The team, using camera footage from PheZulu Estate, found that Williamson, driving his light blue Mazda bakkie, had passed through the area at 10.30am on Monday.
“We realised he was moving towards Drummond and Inchanga, so we decided to concentrate the search in that area for the next two days.”
Their break came on Thursday morning at around 2.30am.
“We received a call from Msunduzi police, who found his vehicle on the road near the ravine.”
They enlisted the help of Pietermaritzburg Search and Rescue, Inchanga SAPS, SAPS Airwing, Umhlali and Durban’s K9 units and local residents who knew the area well.
A private security company, Specialised Security Services, were also involved in the search and one of their employees, Cebukhulu Khomo, found Williamson.
“We were about an hour into the search when we found his jacket. His mother identified it as Justin’s,” said Tristan Dickerson, the general manager of the PheZulu Safari Park, which was also involved in the search.
“The area is not only dense but difficult to search. On foot, it would have taken days, which is why we enlisted the help of the helicopter.”
Dickerson said it was hard not to think of the “worst case scenario”.
“He had been out there for days. I didn’t have high hopes, but we persevered.”
The team managed to find a set of old tracks and began working from there.
“We heard shouting in the distance (at around 11am), saying they had found him. I was in complete shock to see him sitting there.”
Dickerson said Williamson's leg had been badly broken and he was in tremendous pain.
“The paramedics stabilised him, gave him painkillers and put his leg in a splint. We all helped carry him up to where the ER24 ambulance was waiting.
“It must have been around 40 degrees in that valley. It is amazing he had done so well. He told me he was hopeful he would be rescued but his hope had begun to wane after a while.
“There’s a stream close to where he was found, but, knowing it could make him sick, he did not drink from it. Drinking the rainwater and dew was a good move on his part.”