Video
MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEO - There is a boy missing since a near drowning at Diaz Beach, Mossel Bay, on 15 February.
His name is Zubenathi Mthi (11), in Grade 4 at Imekhaya Primary School in KwaNonqaba.
On 15 February, there were two near drownings - one at about 12:00 and another at about 15:15 - both at Dias Beach. At each of these times a child, whose pulse could not be found and who was not breathing, had to be resuscitated. Groups of children were rescued from the sea by beach goers.
André Swanepoel, a staffer at Diaz Water Park, who is a lifeguard and paramedic, told the Mossel Bay Advertiser how he had resuscitated the children. The Mossel Bay Advertiser reported on the near drownings on 21 February.
After the second incident, at 15:15, a child who had been struggling in the sea with a group of children was missing after the children had been rescued from the surf.
Later on in the afternoon of 15 February, Zubenathi's mother, Nomacwera Mthi, saw children arriving in her neighbourhood in a police vehicle. She went to the vehicle and was told by the children Zubenathi had been with them in the sea and that he was missing. She went to the KwaNonqaba Police Station immediately to report Zubenathi missing.
It will be easier
Grief-stricken Nomacwera told the Mossel Bay Advertisr today, Friday 6 March: "It will be good if his body could be found. It will be easier."
She had gone to Imekhaya Primary on the Monday after Zubenathi went missing and had told the school principal what had happened.
Nomacwera said: "I thought my son was playing in the neighbourhood. I didn't know he had gone to the beach." She had been at home that day. She works at a pre-school in Heiderand, Mossel Bay.
The Mossel Bay Advertiser visited principal of Imekhaya Winifred Gwe on 6 March. Gwe said every year lifeguards visited the school to talk to children about the dangers of swimming in the sea.
She said: "When the boy's mother came here to tell me he was missing she was crying. She said she had told her child he was not allowed to go to the beach unless it was a school outing."
Watch a video below:
Gwe expressed her sadness about the incident, saying no funeral could be held because the body of the Zubenathi had not been found.
She said a social worker from the Department of Education was due at the school today to offer trauma counselling to Zubenathi's siblings - twins aged nine - and friends who were with him when he disappeared in the surf.
Zubenathi also has a 14-year-old sister.
There are no permanent lifeguards on beaches outside of the holiday season.
Zubenathi Mthi
Imekhaya Primary School principal Winifred Gwe.
Nomacwera Mthi, mother of missing Zubenathi.
'We bring you the latest Mossel Bay, Garden Route news'
