Juan Pretorius, NSRI Port Alfred station commander, said; “At 20h38 on Wednesday 12 June, NSRI Port Alfred volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from the local ‘Multi Security Company’ who, assisted by Police, were searching for a 14 year old youth, from Kleinemond, who had last been seen at 15h00 but had not returned home from what was believed to be a regular afternoon walk.
“Police and a Police K-9 search dog unit assisted the Multi Security Company and had searched extensively for the local youth and based on the missing youths parents information, that he often walked a regular route on the beach in the afternoons, the search party requested the NSRI’s assistance to help search an extensive length of the coastline.
“Our NSRI Port Alfred volunteer sea rescue duty crew responded to the scene and assisted the Police, the Police K-9 unit, and Multi Security Company in a search operation but despite an extensive shoreline search no sign of the youth could be found and after 22h00 the search parties returned to the JOCC (Joint Operations Control Centre) in Kleinemond to re-group but while returning to the JOCC the missing youth was found walking along the road heading in the direction of his home and he was brought home safely.
“It appears that the youth had lost his cellphone while walking on the beach during the afternoon and he had then returned to the beach to try to find his cellphone which caused him to get home a lot later than expected but which also caused his family to fear the worst and report him missing.”
