A 20 year-old man from Patensie went missing in the surf at Main Beach,, St Francis Bay, this morning. It is believed he may have drowned.
According to Marc May, station commander of NSRI St Francis Bay, the volunteer local sea rescue duty crew are continuing an extensive search at Main Beach. The man, Mfondo Mosi, went missing while swimming in the sea.
“Our NSRI volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated at 11.o5 am (Saturday, 21 January 2012),” May says. We launched our sea rescue craft but the search has revealed no sign of the missing man who is presumed to have drowned.”
“A Police dive unit will join in the search. Police have opened an inquest docket.”
This is the secnd drowning in St Francis this month. A 50 year-old man from Cape Town drowned about 100 m offshore of the Cape St Francis Lighthouse on 10 January.
At the beginning of November last year Simon Moses of Sea Vista drowned at Main Beach St Francis Bay. His body washed up near Paradise Beach, Jeffreys Bay
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”Is it not time that qualified swimmers and non qualified swimmers should consider wearing life jackets when swimming out to sea from the safety of the beach? We all buckle up when driving a motorvehicle for our own personal safety, so why not do the same when swimming? One cannot fight a rip-tide, but at least wife a life jacket on, ones chance of being picked up later floating out to sea and alive are beter. If one has never been taught how to swim in a swimming pool, how slim is one chances then of swimming in the sea off the coastal beaches, landing in difficulty and surviving thereafter? I have been swimming out to sea from the age of 10 years, having swum at most beaches from Zinkwazi, North Coast, Kwa Zulu/Natal to the Eastern Cape Province, Western Cape Province to Swakopmund in Namibia, and never once have I had any difficulty, because I have always consulted local residents and most importantly the ”Life Saver” on duty at the beach and adhered and taken note of his or her advice. The sea is not a swimming pool. There are forces of changing water currents that can take one day down so swiftly, and the first thing that sets in is ‘panic’! With a life jacket on, one only has to pull the emergency cord, one reaches the surface, where one then can take a deep breath of fresh air, access ones surrondings and plan ones surival route from thereon.One can even carry a pencil like flare in a sealed pocket of the jacket, which will notify rescuers where one is. Think people of your own safety before risking your life as well as others.