‘You basically live on the beach’ — Cape Town lifeguard describes rescue at Miller’s Point and busy festive season

Saadiq Parker (25), a senior lifeguard with the Strandfontein Surf Lifesaving Club, was off-duty on Saturday, 27 December, after working Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but this didn’t stop him from rescuing four people at Miller’s Point Beach, near Simon’s Town.

Parker was visiting Miller’s Point with his girlfriend and her family when he was alerted to a commotion at about 12:30pm. Two young children (aged eight and five years) had fallen from an inflatable raft and were struggling in the water.

Read more: Is your favourite beach ready for the summer rush?

“I was lying with my back facing the water and I remember telling my girlfriend, ‘I don’t like lying like this because it’s uncomfortable for me in the sense that, in my nine years working as a lifeguard I’ve always been told [to] never let your back face the water, because in those few seconds when your back is facing the water, anything can happen. Eyes should always be on the water.’

“And I literally finished saying that sentence when I heard a commotion [of] people shouting,” Parker told Daily Maverick.

He immediately ran to retrieve a pink T-buoy and entered the water. Parker said in the meantime, two adults had swum towards the children, but were now struggling to keep their heads above the water.

“It became a situation of not one person, not two persons, but four.”

Once he reached the four, Parker handed the pink T-buoy to the two adults, grabbed the two children and began swimming back to the shore. “Luckily, two members of the public came to assist me,” said Parker, adding that he handed the children over to the two swimmers who had entered the water.

“As I handed over the eight-year-old, she started foaming at the mouth. I immediately started shouting to the public that they need to phone an ambulance because that means this child has swallowed a large amount of water – we’re going to need to start CPR,” he said.

After safely retrieving the two adults, Parker guided members of the public through conducting CPR on the eight-year-old girl.

“After about six cycles [of CPR], we were able to revive her,” he said.

All four people were later handed over to Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services when they arrived, for further medical care. Parker told Daily Maverick he was deeply thankful to those who helped with the rescue.

‘You basically live on the beach’

Parker works at Strandfontein Beach on the False Bay coastline. Speaking to Daily Maverick, he said it had so far been a busy festive season on the beach.

“Last year, most of our rescues and first-aids that we’ve done on the beach happened during our duty times, which are from 2pm-6pm on a Saturday, 10am-6pm on a Sunday, and 10am-6pm on a public holiday.

“This year, we’ve noticed that the majority of our rescues are happening before we start duty – before 10am or after 6pm. There was one incident where we had to do a rescue at 7.15pm,” said Parker.

He said his lifesaving club had reinforced the saying that, “During the festive season, you basically live on the beach… We’re there early, before people come, and we sleep over just to ensure nothing happens on our beach.”

A National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) statement said there had been another rescue incident in Simon’s Town on Saturday, 27 December.

At 9:4oam, the NSRI said its Simon’s Town duty crew was activated after reports from its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) indicated a surf-skier was in distress in the area between Roman Rock Lighthouse and Fish Hoek.

“NSRI EOC had attempted to call the lady surf-skier on her phone [who had activated an alert]… but because of strong winds, cellphone communications were not successful.

After a search, the crew on an NSRI rescue craft located and rescued a man floating in the water.

“It was confirmed that he had fallen out of his surf-ski and he was trying to swim to shore after his leash had snapped and his surf-ski had drifted away from him when a fellow surf-skier, a female, had happened upon him, finding him floating in the water, and she had activated her NSRI SafeTRX emergency to raise the alarm,” said the NSRI.

The man was brought ashore at Fish Hoek Beach, where he was examined by paramedics and required no further assistance.

The rescue incidents at Miller’s Point and Fish Hoek came after another incident on Boxing Day, Friday, 26 December, involving two men (aged 35 and 39) who were in distress while on a small inflatable craft, also at Miller’s Point.

“Multiple eyewitnesses, including motorists on the coastal road, reported seeing the two men being blown out to sea – in the direction of Simon’s Town, from Miller’s Point, on what appeared to be a blow-up swimming pool inflatable craft,” said the NSRI.

The NSRI said it responded to the report at 1.15pm on Friday, locating the men near Murdoch Valley.

“They were both rescued onto the NSRI rescue craft and their casualty craft, appearing to be a supermarket blow-up inflatable fishing craft, was recovered. They had launched earlier on the small inflatable craft to go fishing, but were almost immediately caught in the strong southeasterly winds and they were unable to row back to shore against the wind,” it said.

Cape Town beach safety

Earlier this month, Daily Maverick reported that the City of Cape Town would deploy more than 680 lifeguards to 29 beaches and swimming pools during the festive season.

Read more: Sun, sand and safety — essential guidelines for enjoying South Africa’s beaches this summer

In a statement on Monday, 29 December, the city said it was “bracing” for another busy beach weekend after New Year’s Eve, and appealed to people to remain in the safe zones at beaches and public pools.

“Our beaches and swimming pools have attracted thousands of visitors so far this season, and we expect another bumper weekend as Cape Town rings in the new year. To our lifeguards and support staff, thank you for your efforts to keep visitors to our amenities safe. To the public, don’t leave home without reminding yourself and your children about the golden rules of water safety,” said mayoral committee member for community services and health, Francine Higham.

According to the City of Cape Town, there have been 19 “non-fatal drownings” (when someone has trouble breathing after being submerged, but survives) on Cape Town’s beaches since 1 December.

“In a busy day for lifeguards at Clovelly Beach on Monday, 29 December, they recorded four non-fatal drownings during two separate incidents.

“Four fatal drownings have been recorded in Cape Town over this period. Two are the subject of police investigations and two others were bathing-related,” read the statement.

The city said lifeguards had also responded to 33 water rescues, 39 first-aid incidents and 18 incidents involving “anti-social behaviour” at beaches, as well as two first-aid incidents at public swimming pools.

eThekwini beach safety

From 1 to 21 December, roughly 873,000 people visited beaches in eThekwini Municipality, with no drownings recorded, according to eThekwini Municipality Mayor Cyril Xaba in a statement on 22 December.

“On Reconciliation Day, 16 December, an estimated 201,000 visitors enjoyed our beachfront, making it the busiest day in recent history. Despite these unprecedented crowds, the city is proud to report zero drownings and no major incidents on the day.

“This achievement reflects the dedication and professionalism of our staff, including lifeguards, emergency and disaster management teams, as well as the law enforcement agencies,” said Xaba.

Xaba said previously that the municipality had increased its capacity at its beaches by recruiting 650 seasonal staff, including 78 lifeguards, 67 beach guides, 70 pool supervisors and 135 additional security guards, among other posts.

Read more: Blue skies, clean seas: most SA beaches are ready for the summer rush, but some are not easy to gauge

Daily Maverick has reported that Durban said all 23 of its designated swimming beaches were “safe”, based on tests by the municipality in late November for E. coli sewage bacteria.

On 22 December, Xaba said 22 of 23 beaches were open and “safe for swimming”.

“Only Laguna Beach remains temporarily closed as a precautionary measure while our teams address infrastructure issues that may cause contamination.

“We want to assure all bathers that the city is fully transparent regarding beach water quality testing. Where contamination is suspected, beaches are immediately closed to protect public safety. Under normal circumstances, water quality testing is conducted every two weeks. However, during the festive season, we have increased testing to weekly intervals to ensure maximum safety.

“I wish to reiterate that the temporary closure of beaches due to water contamination is both lawful and necessary. The City of Cape Town recently closed Camps Bay Beach following a raw sewage spill, demonstrating that this is standard practice across municipalities,” he said.

However, the latest beach water quality results dated 24 December and published on eThekwini Municipality’s website indicate that while Laguna Beach has reopened, Doonside, Winklespruit and Reunion beaches are now closed for swimming.

Eastern Cape beaches

Daily Maverick has reported that there are only a few Blue Flag beaches in the Eastern Cape, with two in the Kouga Municipality (Dolphin Beach and Cape St Francis), three in Nelson Mandela Bay (Kings Beach, Humewood, Hobie) and at Kariega, Kelly’s and Middle Kenton-on-Sea beaches in the Ndlambe Municipality, based in Port Alfred.

Read more: Nelson Mandela Bay beaches still in less than pristine condition, despite R10m upgrade

The NSRI has recorded one incident on its website of a “drowning in progress” at Kelly’s Beach in Port Alfred on Christmas Day, Thursday, 25 December.

The NSRI, Ndlambe Municipality lifeguards, Gardmed Ambulance Service and the South African Police Service all responded to the incident, which occurred at 7.45am.

According to the NSRI, a couple from Durban who had earlier engaged with a local 29-year-old man who had arrived at Kelly’s Beach for the day, had noticed the man enter the water, and “almost immediately” get into distress.

“The husband, a Good Samaritan, entered the water to assist the casualty man who was caught in rip currents. He was followed by his wife, a Good Samaritan, armed with the NSRI pink rescue buoy that is stationed at Kelly’s Beach, to assist. A local young man, a Good Samaritan, had also entered the water to assist. Together, assisted by the NSRI pink rescue buoy, they were able to get the casualty man safely to the beach.

“On NSRI, police, lifeguards and paramedics arriving on the scene, medical treatment was provided to the casualty man who was transported to hospital by Gardmed ambulance in a stable condition for observation for non-fatal drowning symptoms,” said the NSRI. DM