Two drownings bring gloom to New Year's Day in Cape Town

New Year's Day in Cape Town has been marred by two drownings just hours apart.

In the first incident,  the National Sea Rescue Institute's (NSRI) Gordons Bay crew were called out at 7.25am to help search for a 10-year-old girl from Stellenbosch who got into difficulties in the surf zone.

The sea rescue craft Zelda was launched and NSRI rescue swimmers along with other emergency services personnel were dispatched to the scene

“On arrival on the scene the sea rescue craft searched in the direction of sea currents when a resident in a block of flats opposite Strand Beach reported sighting the girl in the water a distance away from where she had reportedly originally been swimming,” the rescue service said.

The crew of the nearby NSRI spotted the girl's lifeless body in the water. 

“She was recovered onto the sea rescue craft and brought to paramedics on the shore where sadly she was declared deceased,” said NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon.

In the second incident, the NSRI was called out at 9.40am to assist a local man having difficulties in the tidal pool near the Promenade in Sea Point.

“A German couple staying in a block of flats opposite the Promenade had noticed the man in the water and they raised the alarm,” he said.

The NSRI and other emergency services responded.

“On arrival on the scene an NSRI rescue swimmer entered the water where the German man was assisting to recover the lifeless body of a local man, believed to be aged in his 50s, from the water,” Lambinon said.

The NSRI rescue swimmer recovered the man onto rocks where paramedics declared the man to be deceased.

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