KNYSNA NEWS - A lengthy rescue operation involving the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and a number of hikers on Saturday 13 August ended in the safe evacuation and treatment of a father and son who had been seriously injured on the Robberg Nature Reserve hiking trail.
According to Nic van den Handel, NSRI Plettenberg Bay duty coxswain, NSRI Plettenberg Bay duty crew were activated at 15:24 on Saturday after a request for emergency assistance from a family of four, who reported the father and son seriously injured.
On their second evening at the Fountain Shack in Robberg Nature Reserve, the father and son were swept off a rock by waves. They were washed over rocks into a tidal pool during the incoming spring-high tide.
Both were unconscious, but when the 13-year-old son regained consciousness he ran up the hiking trail - despite being seriously injured - to alert his mother and sister to his father's distress.
His injuries rendered him unable to help his father himself.
The mother alerted the NSRI and went with her son to help the father, whom they were able to move higher up the rocks and out of the water. Battling with the rising shoreline as the spring high tide came in, they elicited the help of other hikers nearby who aided with ongoing communications with the NSRI Plettenberg Bay duty controller on a cellphone.
"The NSRI rescue craft arrived on the scene first and NSRI medics initiated medical treatment," said Van den Handel.
"They were joined on the scene by additional NSRI crew, WC Government Health EMS paramedics and Med-Life paramedics who had hiked to the scene from the parking area."
The father was on the rocks at the bottom of the hill and the son was at the shack. The father was secured into a Stokes basket stretcher and carried up to the shack.
"In relays the father and the son were airlifted by the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter to the parking area where additional medical treatment was rendered before both were transported to hospital in ambulances in serious but stable conditions," said Van den Handel.
The EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter that airlifted the Knysna father and son swept off the rocks at Fountain Shack, on Robberg Nature Reserve on Saturday 13 August. The two were airlifted in relays from the rocks to the parking lot at Robberg.
The rescue was completed at about 21:00. Van den Handel praised all involved in the rescue.
"All emergency services involved are commended for the swift response and the hikers and tourists who helped are commended for their efforts. The son is commended for rescuing his dad in the water despite earlier being unconscious himself and despite his serious injuries. The mom and daughter are commended for their efforts under trying circumstances," he said.
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