Cape Town - A day out at the beach turned into tragedy for an Ocean View family when their son was swept out to sea at Kommetjie on Thursday afternoon.
Llewellen Faulmann had taken Eric, 13, along with his daughter and a cousin to Long Beach for an outing.
“I brought them down to the beach to come spend the day because it was the last day of their cousin’s visit,” Faulmann said.
“He was swimming in the ocean with his cousin, while I was looking after his 8-year-old sister on the beach. Then I looked in the water and realised that something was wrong.”
He said he saw his son disappear in the water and had swum out to try and rescue him.
“His cousin said to me that Eric had a cramp or something.”
Faulmann said he almost reached Eric three times but each time he disappeared in the water until he could no longer see him.
He asked for help from surfers who called the NSRI and police to the scene. Divers, police and a chopper were dispatched for the search which started at about 4pm. By last night the teenager was still missing.
The NSRI’s Craig Lambinon said the search would continue at low tide last night and if need be, would continue this morning.
Meanwhile, the search is still on for the bodies of three cousins from Kalksteenfontein, presumed to have drowned after they disappeared in the surf at Hawston at the weekend.
Shelton Brewis, 12, Antonio Fisher, 15, and Rojei Spannenberg, 19, were swept out to sea at about 2pm on Saturday.
Two of their cousins, Preslin and Tiaan Ross, were caught in the rip current but managed to swim back to shore and were reunited with their mother, Elna Ross, 45 minutes later. The boys had gone to Hawston on a bus as part of a day trip from Kalksteenfontein.
* On Sunday, a 23-year-old Kraaifontein woman drowned in a tidal pool at Strandfontein, despite lifesavers’ attempts to rescue her.
* A boy, 14, who is yet to be named, drowned at a municipal pool in Piketberg, also on Sunday.
Cape Argus