MISSING DIVERS FOUND!

Thanks to a huge combined effort, a missing pair of divers – father and son – were located before nightfall. By Cherelle Leong

SHELLY BEACH IS LOCATED along a vast stretch of coast with variable currents. Because it is located near Protea Banks, one of the prime diving spots off the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, the one call you don’t want to get as a Sea Rescue station commander is for missing divers. As everyone at Station 20 (Shelly Beach) knows, a search for people lost at sea is nearly ‘mission impossible’, as such a massive area has to be covered. Limited resources would add to the challenge, as would having only a few hours of daylight left to conduct a search. Moreover, trying to spot a person from a boat can be very difficult, especially if the sea is choppy.

On Wednesday 21 December 2022, just after 1pm, a dive boat returned to Ramsgate Ski Boat Club to report two missing divers – a father and son. The person reported that they’d been diving approximately 7nm offshore. He’d lost sight of the pair and then searched for them for an hour without success. Although the boat had a GPS and a radio, the crewman wasn’t familiar with how to operate them, so instead, he had returned to the club to get assistance. By the time he could raise the alarm, the divers had already been missing for more than an hour. While the dive equipment the missing men had on would assist them with buoyancy, even the warm Indian Ocean can get cold if you’re submerged in it long enough. There was no time to waste.

All Hands On Deck

Shelly Beach station commander Gary Wolmarans activated the duty crew at 13h20. In the meantime, five local men helped refuel the dive boat that had returned to report the missing divers and relaunched to start searching at their last known position.

It would take an hour to get out there, leaving only a few hours of daylight to search for the men. Gary knew they needed more resources. Members of the Shelly Beach duty crew launched their rescue craft, Spirit of Dawn, accompanied by a police search-and-rescue officer on board. Station 32 (Port Edward) launched its rescue craft, Spirit of Steve, too, and Med-Evac Emergency Medical Services launched its rescue vessel, God’s Gift. In addition, private commercial ski-boats MeSteph and Spitzbubble launched from Shelly Beach; Shot for Shot and Vagabond from Port Edward; and an additional three private boats from Ramsgate. These extra resources would help cover the large search area more effectively.

In the meantime, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) instructed Telkom Maritime Radio Services to broadcast an all-ships alert for vessels in the vicinity to keep a lookout. NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) also placed Station 5 (Durban) on standby in case more resources were required.

A Transnet National Ports Authority helicopter that had been activated by MRCC to join in the search took off with a Station 5 rescue swimmer on board. Hendrik Ludick of Airtrack X-treme Security alerted Margate Air Traffic Control, which broadcast an all-aircraft alert for anyone flying in the area to keep their eyes open. Riversmead Poultry diverted its Cessna 206 fixed-wing aircraft to assist with the search, and Hendrik also launched his Robinson 44 helicopter to conduct a search along the shoreline. On the beaches, South Coast lifeguards also joined in the efforts by searching the shoreline.

Mammoth Task

With such a vast number of resources, the chances of finding the divers were greatly improved. But coordinating all the vessels and search patterns was a mammoth task in itself. Within three hours, Gary fielded 97 calls! Fortunately he had assistance from many quarters. One of the Station 20 crew members knew Colonel Pine Pienaar, a South African Air Force (SAAF) Commander of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). When Colonel Pienaar became aware of the scale of the operation, he arrived at the NSRI Shelly Beach rescue station to assist at the command centre. Clifford Ireland, NSRI regional representative for KZN, and Brett Ayres, NSRI Executive Director, Rescue Services, based in Cape Town, also assisted remotely by using specialised software to map out search areas and routes based on drift calculations. These search parameters were used to direct all the vessels to the area where the currents would most likely take the casualties. Drift patterns indicated they’d be moving towards Port Edward.

Search parameters were used to direct all the vessels to the area where the currents would most likely take the casualties. Drift patterns indicated they’d be moving towards Port Edward.

While searching 7nm out to sea off Palm Beach, Station 32 crew noticed a Mooney M20 fixed-wing aircraft circling a further 2nm out to sea. When they saw a red distress flare being fired from the same location, they immediately made their way to the area. On arrival at the scene, Station 32 crew found the private vessel Shot for Shot had located the father and recovered him from the water. The diver had drifted approximately 9nm from where he’d gone missing. If it hadn’t been for the pilot of the Mooney M20, who had diverted from his flight path, and Shot for Shot, one of the private vessels that had joined the search, the diver might never have been found. After confirming that he was stable and didn’t require any medical assistance, the man remained on Shot to Shot so that Station 32 crew could continue the search for his son, who was still missing.

After the father was found, it was established that the two divers separated when the son had made the decision to try to swim to shore. This information was relayed to all the vessels involved as they continued in their search. At about 15h10, Station 32 crew noticed the private vessel Vagabond heading towards them. When the two boats rendezvoused, the crew were pleased to discover that Vagabond had found and recovered the son from the water about 7nm offshore just before the Port Edward lighthouse. Although the young man was tired and hypothermic, he was in good health otherwise. He was transferred onto Station 32’s rescue vessel and, with the search-and-recovery successfully completed, all the other rescue and private commercial boats were stood down and returned to the beaches from which they had launched.

Team Effort

Back in Port Edward, father and son were reunited. Once they were treated for dehydration, exhaustion and hypothermia, they were deemed fit to go home. Despite having been adrift for hours, they were both in good health. It was incredibly fortunate that so many people responded to help with the search. With so many resources on the water and in the air, and the guidance and oversight from NSRI Shelly Beach command station, it was a combined effort that helped achieve a positive outcome.

It is amazing to see a community come together like this. Fishermen, divers, commercial skippers, pilots, lifeguards, search-and-rescue police officers and even a military colonel all joined in the efforts of volunteer Sea Rescue crew to search for and save lives at sea. The way everyone responded, spreading the word on their networks, getting aircraft in the air and swiftly launching boats to assist was quite incredible. Even the unknown pilot of the Mooney M20, who had heard the Margate Air Traffic Control broadcast and diverted to assist in the search – thanks to his circling in the air above the father, the boats were alerted to his location so that they could recover him from the water.