H E A LT H
ON THE LINE O
N THE EVENING of 8 February 2010, Station 14 (Plettenberg Bay) was asked, together with a number of other rescue services, to assist the Air Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) in the search for a light aircraft with nine people on board, reported to have gone missing on the coastline between Wilderness and Plettenberg Bay. The plane wreckage was discovered the following morning in the waters off Robberg Nature Reserve. Tragically all nine passengers lost their lives. Head of NSRI’s Training Department Graeme Harding was involved in the recovery operation 38 |
SEA RESCUE SPRING 2020
and recalls what a profound effect it had on not only the rescue personnel directly involved, but also on the NSRI as a whole. ‘It put the spotlight on how we as an organisation should prepare our crews mentally for worst-case-scenario outcomes and use debriefing sessions to openly discuss how they are affected by such tragic events,’ he says. Most often search efforts are exhaustive, but the reality of ‘search and rescue’ is that ‘rescue’ can become ‘recovery’. And when casualties are not found, the effects can be devastating. Enrico Menezies, former station commander at Station
MAIN PHOTOGRAPH: LOURENS DE VILLIERS
Rescue personnel are often placed in dangerous and tragic situations in the line of duty. We chatted to NSRI’s national trainer Enrico Menezies about his own experiences and why peer and family support, debriefing and counselling are so important. By Wendy Maritz
