– By Bev Mortimer, edited…
Two Good Samaritans, one a man, and two, a surfer, rescued a child from the water at Rocklands Beach, Sea Point on Thursday this week, 9 October.
The NSRI says during the Spring high tide the boy from Gugulethu in Cape Town, was sitting on rocks with his brother, aged 13, with their father as nearby, when waves suddenly swept the boy off the rocks into the water. His brother was able to escape from the waves to safety.
An unidentified Good Samaritan man went into the surf to try to assist. A group of local surfers on the promenade noticed the incident and one of them, 21 year-old Devon Coombe from Kenilworth, Cape Town, was alerted. Devon had been scanning the waves from rocks on the shoreline preparing to continue surfing.on seeing a man in the water, Devon suspected he was the one in difficulty.
As Devon launched his surfboard to assist, he noticed an unidentified man, the Good Samaritan, was trying to assist a child in difficulty and trying to get the boy’s head above water in the surf zone. Devon recovered the boy onto his surfboard and paddled ashore where together resuscitation efforts were commenced on the child, and the alarm was raised.
The child was conscious and breathing spontaneously but with difficulty. Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services arrived on the scene first with their paramedics and assisted in resuscitation efforts on a 10 year-old boy.The unidentified Good Samaritan man exited the water, uninjured. Following reports of bystander resuscitation efforts in progress NSRI Table Bay and NSRI Bakoven duty crews were activated, and NSRI Table Bay and NSRI Bakoven rescue swimmers and NSRI medics, WC Government Health EMS and an EMS duty doctor, the SA Police Services, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, CoCT Law Enforcement, CoCT lifeguards, ER24 ambulance services, Netcare 911 ambulance services and CSO (Community Security Organisation) all responded.
The NSRI Bakoven rescue craft Gemini Legend was prepared to be launched and Police WPDS (Water Policing and Diving Services) were alerted.
The child was stabilised before being transported to hospital by a Netcare 911 ambulance in a serious but stable condition. He is recovering in hospital.
The unidentified Good Samaritan man, the Good Samaritan surfer, Devon and all of the bystanders, who assisted and who raised the alarm, are commended for their contribution that saved the child’s life the NSRI says.
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