CAPE TOWN- The City recorded its busiest beach day in three years on Saturday.
Thousands of residents and visitors flocked to the Cape Town beaches and pools this past weekend to escape the heat.
“I am proud of the massive effort put in by all our services over the weekend and I especially want to celebrate the commitment of our lifeguards. Saturday was one of the busiest beach days in the last few years and our staff have certainly stepped up,” mayco member for community services and health, Patricia van der Ross, said.
“We lost three lives to fatal drownings on Saturday, while 134 lives were saved because of their efforts. Their hard work and dedication to serving the public under challenging circumstances should be commended.”
The fatal drownings took place outside of designated bathing areas at unguarded beaches or beyond the hours when lifeguards were on duty, at Clovelly, Monwabisi East and Strand.
In addition, a total of 127 help-outs were recorded by City lifeguards on duty. These are rescues where a potential drowning was avoided.
Additional first aid cases, including dislocations, seizures, facial injuries and minor cuts and bruises, were also attended to by lifeguards.
The City’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development Department tagged 21 507 children over the weekend and reunited 155 with their parents or caregivers.
Six children, four at Camps Bay on Saturday and two at Muizenberg on Sunday, had to be handed over to the Provincial Department of Social Development as they could not be reunited with their parents or caregivers by nightfall.
The six children were not tagged.
“Identikidz staff have tagged 98 232 children in total so far and reunited 338 with their families. There are still some busy, hot days ahead and I want to encourage parents to ensure they have their children tagged at the participating beaches. It’s a simple, quick process and will save everyone from the worry and trauma,” Van der Ross said.