Cape Town - Police divers are still searching for the the body of a 4-year-old swept away in Yzerfontein at the weekend.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut said the circumstances around the drowning were being investigated and that there were no new developments.
The National Sea Rescue Institute’s (NSRI) Yzerfontein station commander, Willem Lubbe, said they responded to the incident just before 5pm on Saturday and an extensive sea, air and shore search was conducted.
“It appears that the family, from Malmesbury, were on the beach for the day. During the rising tide the child is believed to have been playing in the water when rip currents swept the child out to sea.”
NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said the institute had teams out searching during the night and the search was later taken over by police.
Beachgoers across the province and country kept NSRI teams busy at the weekend with a number of incidents.
In Gordon’s Bay, a man had to be rescued after he was swept off the rocks at Rooi Els on Sunday morning. NSRI Gordon’s Bay coxswain Ryan Holmes said that as they were preparing to respond to the incident, they were informed the man had been rescued from the water and was unconscious.
“We found a 49-year-old male, from Milnerton, suffering non-fatal drowning symptoms and suffering from a seizure. Between all of the rescuers on the scene the patient was secured into a stokes basket stretcher and we walked him up the cliff path to an EMS ambulance and he has been transported to hospital in a serious but stable condition.”
A 52-year-old man had to be assisted by the NSRI after he capsized on a sea kayak off-shore from Three Anchor Bay.
Bakoven station commander Bruce Davidson said two men had gone fishing, but the 52-year-old man, from Simon's Town, “had reportedly never launched his kayak into the sea and after capsizing he was not able to get back into his kayak, which kept capsizing and the alarm was raised".
He added that the man was rescued and treated for exhaustion and hypothermia.
“The man was brought to the Three Anchor Bay slip-way where he was transported to hospital in a stable condition for further treatment and for observation for secondary drowning.”