MOSSEL BAY NEWS - A mother was able to rescue her 12-year-old son from strong currents at the Little Brak River mouth on Tuesday afternoon, 22 April, by wading into the water and throwing a pink rescue buoy out to him.
This is according to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
The NSRI said that it was just before 13:00 on Tuesday when its Mossel Bay crew were alerted to a drowning in progress at the river mouth.
An eyewitness, who had alerted the NSRI, had told the crew a child appeared to be caught in rip currents.
The mother had noticed her son, who is a good swimmer, was caught in the rip current and grabbed the pink buoy before wading chest deep into the water and throwing it out to him.
The NSRI said the son grabbed it and was able to free himself from the currents and swim back safely to the beach. It was all over in two minutes, according to the NSRI.
The NSRI stated that as a precaution, NSRI rescue swimmers still went to the scene, where they confirmed that all were safe, there were no injuries and responding resources were stood down.
Sea Rescue also commended the mother for the quick rescue by using the buoy.
It added that that the family was on holiday from Pretoria and had requested privacy.
Mossel Bay woman injured
On Saturday, 19 April, a 61-year-old Mossel Bay woman was injured while on the Otter hiking trail in the Tsitsikamma National Park.
NSRI Oyster Bay station commander Lodewyk van Rensburg said it was almost 18:30 on Saturday when the NSRI crew, along with NSRI Storms River and South African National Park (SANParks) rangers at Tsitsikamma were alerted to the woman being injured.
Van Rensburg said members of a hiking party were attempting to make their way towards the Storms River parking area, still some distance away, over difficult terrain and they required medical assistance and support in their efforts to get the injured woman to safety.
Crew from both NSRI rescue stations, SANParks rangers and emergency medical services responded by hiking out to the woman and her group.
The woman received medical attention and she was then secured into a basket stretcher. The hiking party, with the injured woman in the stretcher, were helped back to the parking area, hiking over difficult terrain at night.
Van Rensburg said the "challenging operation" took just over two hours and was completed just after 20:00.
The woman was "seen to by a doctor privately and no further assistance was required".
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