Tall order for Nelson Mandela Bay’s ‘small’ search and rescue cop

When asked to recount the moment he saw the bodies of the two men he needed to retrieve, Emilio George fell silent.

By the way the bodies were positioned at the bottom of the water cooling tank, he knew there was no way the men were alive. Now it was up to him to help their families reach closure after the freak incident.

“Very often, our jobs are not about saving lives. It is about recovering bodies and providing families with answers and closure in their most difficult times,” said George.

The 33-year-old police constable, a member of the Nelson Mandela Bay Search and Rescue Dive Unit, was part of the team deployed to Humansdorp on Wednesday, 20 May, where the two employees of an engineering firm died on a milk farm outside town.

Police spokesperson Captain Marius McCarthy confirmed that the two men, aged 27 and 54, were working on a water cooling tank when the unfortunate incident took place.

It was explained that the tank, roughly two metres deep, contains a series of coiled pipes filled with gas to cool the water inside. That water is then fed into a cooling system where it is used to rapidly drop the temperature of milk fed from a separate stainless steel tank, to about 3°C.

The contents of the water cooling tank and the milk tanks never come into contact.

Unfortunately, it seems cooling gas was leaking from a coil in the water cooling tank while one of the men was working at the bottom of the tank. On realising his colleague was in trouble, the second man climbed down into the tank to try to help, but sadly, both men lost consciousness and suffocated.

George had just arrived home on Wednesday after finishing his shift, and was still wearing his police uniform when he received the call from his commander around 4.30pm. He immediately drove to pick up a colleague, and together they left Gqeberha to assist with the recovery in Humansdorp.

“At the time, we received pictures from the scene and we were briefed on what to expect, but only once we arrived on the farm could I really piece together exactly what had to be done.

“Luckily, I’ve never had an issue with tight spaces, and when I saw just how confined the space really was, I understood why they called me for this job,” George said, smiling as he gestured to his small stature and slender build — one of the reasons he was chosen for this particular job.

Upon arrival, George and his team found that members of the Humansdorp fire department and Humansdorp EMS were already on site and they had prepared the rope rigging he needed to rappel into the tank and retrieve the bodies.

‘They never had a chance’

George explained that he often relied on the adrenaline of the moment to help him set his own fears aside when he knew there could be danger. During his initial approach, everything was going according to plan until he felt a sharp sting in his eyes and at the back of his throat.

“There was a nervous moment when I realised the gas at the bottom of the tank had not evaporated yet. Experiencing that sting and seeing the two lifeless bodies at the bottom of the tank, I got just a tiny glimpse into what their final moments must have felt like.

“The feeling of the gas was almost instantaneous. I knew these poor men never had a chance to get out alive. At that moment, I could not help but feel a sense of fear and sadness for them and their families,” George said.

His team immediately extracted him, and he put on an oxygen mask before being lowered back down into the tank.

He recalled how the body closest to him, presumably the second man, was found in a crawling position between the side of the tank and gas coils, as if he had died on his way to help his colleague. The other man was lying face down at the bottom of the tank, under the coils.

George secured the recovery line to the first body, which was hauled out of the tank, and pulled the second body out from under the coils before securing it to the rigging for recovery.

The actual recovery, which “felt like an hour” to George, took little more than two minutes.

Appeal for sensitivity

While the names of the victims have not yet been released, their employer, Northfield Engineering, released a statement.

“Northfield Engineering can confirm that two of our employees passed away in a tragic accident on Wednesday afternoon. Due to the fact that the police investigation is ongoing and out of respect for the two families, we will issue a formal statement once all the facts have been ascertained.

“At this stage, our immediate priorities are the well-being of the families of our deceased colleagues. We ask that any insensitive information, photos or videos that are being circulated be removed from circulation out of respect for the families,” the statement read.

McCarthy confirmed that an inquest docket had been opened with the Humansdorp police, and the matter is still under investigation.

Praise

A colleague, who has worked in the police’s Search and Rescue Unit for 26 years, Warrant Officer Ettiene Gerber, praised George for how he handled the situation.

“Even with all my experience, this was a very unique set of circumstances that came with some challenges. But George has proved that he is always eager to learn and improve, and he handled himself perfectly.

“This job is not glamorous. It takes a special type of person, but George, like the rest of us, understands the importance of recovering those bodies and giving closure to families in mourning,” Gerber said.

Asked if he had cursed his slight build for landing him in that dangerous situation, George laughed that off and said it was an attribute that he believed made him a valuable member of the team.

His background also shows that helping others has always been in his nature.

After finishing school, he began working as a paramedic before enrolling in the police college. After graduating, he served in several units, including a stint with the Flying Squad. In 2021, the commander of the Diving Unit approached him with a position, and he has since been working at Search and Rescue.

What is the best part of the job, according to George?

“After a recovery operation, I will never forget how lucky I am to come home to my family. I have the privilege of coming home to my wife and one-year-old son, while those two men at the bottom of that tank did not. Every day, I am grateful.” DM