Durban — The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) has commended a Good Samaritan believed to have rescued two children at Casuarina Beach.
NSRI Ballito station commander, Mike Bishop praised the man who is believed to have rescued two children at the beach on Sunday, March 10.
Bishop said, “At approximately 11.45am a call came into NSRI Ballito from an eyewitness reporting two swimmers, children, appearing to be in distress, at Casuarina Beach, La Mercy, KZN North Coast.”
He said their NSRI Ballito crew were diverted from a routine training exercise to respond. “Our waver runner rescue jet ski was dispatched to the location, with a rescue swimmer on-board, followed closely by our NSRI rescue craft JetRib JayTee 3.
“On arrival on the scene our rescue craft beached where a large group of people had gathered where it was confirmed by eye-witnesses that two young children who were in difficulty in the surf had been rescued from the water by a male, believed to be a local, Good Samaritan, who had entered the water and successfully rescued the two children to shore and he had reportedly then reunited them with their adult minder.”
Bishop said the children were not injured during the incident.
“NSRI commends the swift response and we commend the unidentified Good Samaritan for his efforts that we believe saved the two children,” Bishop said.
At the start of 2020, the NSRI launched its Survival Swimming Programme which teaches children the basic skills to stay afloat should they find themselves in difficulty in the water, the NSRI website said.
The initiative came about after several incidents involving children drowning a metre or two from safety. They would not have needed to swim 50 metres to survive; they would only have needed to know how to move as little as five metres through the water to get to safety.
The NSRI’s squads are made up of full-time professional instructors and volunteers who want to share their joy of swimming with children, and visit public swimming pools to teach the basics of survival swimming:
- Breath control
- Orientation in the water
- Floating
- Propelling themselves
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Daily News