The body of 19-year-old Emerson Noonan washed up on the Nahoon Beach yesterday – seven days after he disappeared while swimming at the same beach.
Details of how the body of the plumbing assistant from Pefferville, East London, came to return to the same beach were sketchy yesterday.
Emerson’s family spoke of their long, traumatic week of combing the beaches and mortuaries, even going as far as Butterworth, in their search.
Mdantsane police spokesman Captain Mluleki Mbi said the body had been spotted by surf-ski paddlers after dawn yesterday.
Noonan drowned while bathing off Nahoon beach on December 27.
His uncle, Sam Ambraal, said the family had searched all East London beaches every day, sometimes late into the night.
Ambraal said his day would start with a visit to Noonan’s home in Pefferville in the hope that he would be there.
Ambraal said: “He drowned at about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. We last saw him in the morning as he left for the beach.
“We went to the beaches from 5am to 9pm. Sometimes we extended those hours and we’d go home at 11pm,” he said.
What made it even more painful was that while revellers were having the time of their lives and celebrating the new year, his family was in despair.
“This past week has been so stressful to us as a family. We couldn’t sleep. All we wanted to do was to search for him day and night so that we could bring him home.”
He said the family went as far as Butterworth when they heard there were bodies that had been discovered at Qolorha-by-Sea in Centane because one of the drowned people matched Noonan’s description.
Ambraal said they also visited mortuaries, one of them in Butterworth.
Mdantsane police spokesman captain Mluleki Mbi said the decomposed body had no visible wounds even though it had been in the water for a long time.
Mbi said police had opened an inquest.
He said the search party comprised of the police K9 unit, airwing, and SAPS divers. Buffalo City Metro fire department also conducted a search along the coastline as well as the National Sea Rescue Institute.
Body of drowned man washes up at Nahoon
Details of how the body of the plumbing assistant from Pefferville, East London, came to return to the same beach were sketchy yesterday.
Emerson’s family spoke of their long, traumatic week of combing the beaches and mortuaries, even going as far as Butterworth, in their search.
Mdantsane police spokesman Captain Mluleki Mbi said the body had been spotted by surf-ski paddlers after dawn yesterday.
Noonan drowned while bathing off Nahoon beach on December 27.
His uncle, Sam Ambraal, said the family had searched all East London beaches every day, sometimes late into the night.
Ambraal said his day would start with a visit to Noonan’s home in Pefferville in the hope that he would be there.
Ambraal said: “He drowned at about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. We last saw him in the morning as he left for the beach.
“We went to the beaches from 5am to 9pm. Sometimes we extended those hours and we’d go home at 11pm,” he said.
What made it even more painful was that while revellers were having the time of their lives and celebrating the new year, his family was in despair.
“This past week has been so stressful to us as a family. We couldn’t sleep. All we wanted to do was to search for him day and night so that we could bring him home.”
He said the family went as far as Butterworth when they heard there were bodies that had been discovered at Qolorha-by-Sea in Centane because one of the drowned people matched Noonan’s description.
Ambraal said they also visited mortuaries, one of them in Butterworth.
Mdantsane police spokesman captain Mluleki Mbi said the decomposed body had no visible wounds even though it had been in the water for a long time.
Mbi said police had opened an inquest.
He said the search party comprised of the police K9 unit, airwing, and SAPS divers. Buffalo City Metro fire department also conducted a search along the coastline as well as the National Sea Rescue Institute.
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