Gonubie Beach in the Eastern Cape. (Photo for illustration/Facebook)
A 30-year-old man from Johannesburg drowned at Gonubie on Sunday afternoon.
It was while he and two men, also from Johannesburg, visited the river. Cathrine Prentis, station commander of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in East London, says two were adults and one a teenager. Prentis says two of the men were swimming, when one got into trouble and disappeared under the water.
Three men from the area, an adult and two teenage brothers, saw the incident. The teenagers managed to pull the man out of the water and took him to the shoreline, while the adult went to look for help.
Prentis says lifeguards from the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) saw the man when he came running towards them. He informed them about the incident, about a kilometer up the Gonubie River.
Lifesavers from the BCMM rushed to the scene, while calling NSRI East London, ambulance services and the police.
“Upon their arrival at the scene, the lifesavers, joined by paramedics in the meantime, applied cardiac massage. Despite extensive efforts to revive the man, he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The police have started an inquest.
The NSRI expressed their condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the victim.