Mark Harlan, NSRI Shelly Beach station commander, said; “At 11h10 on 21 December 2011, NSRI Shelley Beach volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following reports of a drowning in progress in the surf at Shelly Beach near to our NSRI rescue base.
“Our NSRI volunteer sea rescue duty crew responded to our sea rescue base to prepare to launch our sea rescue craft and Hibiscus Medivac ambulance service responded.
“Prior to launching our sea rescue craft it was confirmed that two local dive charter teams, African Dive Adventures and Aqua Planet, both in the vicinity of the incident at the time, had responded and had successfully managed to help a young man and a young woman from the surf bringing both to shore safely.
“The young couple were treated on-scene by Hibiscus Medivac paramedics and both were transported to hospital in stable conditions, suffering symptoms of near drowning, by Hibiscus Medivac ambulance.
“According to reports the couple, Casey Booysen, 20, and Johan Hayward, 19, both from Brakpan, Gauteng, had been swept off the rocks they were walking on, close to the shores edge, by a wave and were both then swept out to sea.”
NSRI are urging the public to be extremely safety conscious over the coming Christmas weekend where the monthly new moon Spring tide will cause high tide to be higher than normal, low tide to be lower than normal and rip currents to be stronger than normal. Bathers and anglers should be particularly cautious during this period.
