Cape Town – A 34-year-old man drowned after a rubber duck capsized at Clifton on Sunday.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) volunteers were called at about 9:50am to assist two people in the boat that capsized off 1st Beach.
The skipper was the sole survivor. He confirmed that a crew member on the boat was missing in the surf.
Mark Thompson of the NSRI Bakoven said that when NSRI rescuers arrived at the scene the skipper of the rubber duck was found uninjured on the beach.
“The skipper had managed to swim to shore and said his crewman was missing in the surf after their boat capsized in heavy sea swells about 200m offshore of Clifton 1st Beach,” Thompson said.
The rubber duck washed ashore and a police dive unit was called in to assist.
Thompson said that during an extensive air, sea and shoreline search in heavy swells and breaking surf the body of the missing man was spotted in the surf-line at Clifton’s 4th Beach.
Upon securing the body, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was started by NSRI rescuers, but the man was declared dead by paramedics.
Thompson said the body would be taken into the care of the government Health Forensic Pathology Services.
He said police had opened an inquest docket and South African Maritime Safety Authority would investigate the incident.
“It appears that the crew of the rubber duck may have been on standby for a private Clifton swim after launching earlier at Oceana Power Boat Club before capsizing in the surf-line off-shore of Clifton 1st Beach.”