Cape Town - A national swimmer became a hero on Sunday when he saved a Cape Town man from drowning in the surf at Mouille Point.
Miro Kolenic had been walking with a friend on the Promenade when they heard screams coming from the sea.
The pair tried to establish where the noise was coming from and noticed a crowd pointing towards the water.
“I heard the man shouting and saw that he was struggling and I saw that no one was going in to help him. I just went in without thinking,” said the 22-year-old Kolenic.
Kolenic said he was a national-level swimmer and had also done a diving course in his matric year at Hyde Park High School in Joburg.
He has been living in Cape Town for the past four years and works as an animator.
Before Kolenic dived in, another man had gone in, in an attempt to save the drowning man, but he was too slow and got to the man after Kolenic.
“The other guy tried his best but I guess I was a bit faster than him.”
Kolenic said when he got to the man in strife, his eyes were still open, although he was slowly losing consciousness.
He had been floating face down.
“I tried to get him to relax, but he was struggling to keep calm.”
As Kolenic and the other rescuer tried to get the man to shore, a third person arrived on a surfboard.
“We put him on the board and swam back.”
On the shore, a crowd that had gathered cheered and applauded.
The man was resuscitated and rushed to Somerset Hospital.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesman Craig Lambinon confirmed that the man rescued was from Cape Town and that he was 25 years old.
He was in a stable condition.
A witness alleged there had been two men struggling in the water.
Claudette Eksteen said she had been sitting near the rocks with her friend when they heard calls for help.
“It took long to register where the scream was coming from, but when we looked closer we saw two people on the opposite sides of the water.
“One was floating and the other one was struggling to paddle.”
The latter had been the one shouting for help.
Eksteen said because she could not swim, she shouted for help, while struggling to dial emergency services.
“I kept shouting to the one who was paddling to float. I could see that the one who was floating had already given up.”
Eksteen alleges that one man went under, while Kolenic and the other two rescuers were attending to the 25-year-old.
Lambinon could, however, not confirm this.
“We only got calls for one person and he was rescued.”
Lambinon said the rescued man also confirmed he was alone in the water.
Kolenic said he had heard about a second man being in the water, but he did not see him.
“When you’re in the water it’s difficult to see clearly.”
Meanwhile, the search for a fisherman who went missing near Rooi Els continued on Sunday, the NSRI said.
“A search was conducted on the scene until the early hours of Sunday morning and a police dive unit is continuing the search on Sunday,” NSRI Gordon’s Bay duty coxswain Edward Rossouw said.
The 42-year-old’s family reported him missing on Saturday when he failed to return home from a fishing trip at Rooi Els, between Gordon’s Bay and Pringle Bay, on the False Bay coastline.
“It appears that the Mitchells Plain man had left home at 6am on Saturday to go crayfishing at Rooi Els, a regular activity, but on failing to return, his family grew concerned and went in search of him and raised the alarm,” said Rossouw.
However, his vehicle and personal belongings were found 2km from Rooi Els later on Saturday.