PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Sea rescue volunteers rushed to aid German tourists who were swept out to sea by a rip current on the wild side of the Robberg Nature Reserve on Friday 18 February.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Plettenberg Bay station commander Jaco Kruger said they received reports of a drowning in progress just after 11:00.
A witness reported that two people had been swept out to sea. NSRI immediately responded.
"The NSRI Plettenberg Bay siren was sounded and our duty crew responded to our NSRI base where three sea rescue craft, Ray Farnham Rescuer, Eric Stratford and Leonard Smith, were launched while NSRI rescue swimmers, in their private vehicles, responded directly to the Robberg Nature Reserve parking area and ran along the hiking trail to reach the scene," Kruger said.
An NSRI rescue swimmer reached The Island and confirmed that there was a couple being swept out to sea and that they had already been swept about 100 metres across the length of the beach. "They were by that stage behind the backline and still in grave danger, caught in rip currents."
The rescue swimmer launched into the surf with an NSRI pink rescue buoy.
"The rescue craft Ray Farnham Rescuer arrived on the scene and reached the couple rescuing both of them out of the water onto our sea rescue craft," he said.
They were brought safely to the beach and the remaining two sea rescue craft arrived while the rescue swimmer swam back to the shore.
The couple, a husband and wife from Germany, both aged 63, were medically assessed by NSRI medics, assisted by a doctor who happened to be on the beach at the time.
The couple were deemed in a satisfactory condition and accompanied back to the car park and they required no further assistance.
"The eyewitness who raised the alarm, and the swift response that contributed to saving the couple's lives, are commended," said Kruger.
Volunteers on an NSRI Plettenberg Bay craft rescued the German couple out of the rip current.
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