Three men were rescued after experiencing difficulty while hiking on the Karbonkelberg trail between Sandy Bay and Hout Bay on Sunday, 6 February.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute’s (NSRI) Hout Bay duty coxswain, Lyall Pringle, a 26-year-old local, a 20-year-old from Ecuador and a 26-year-old from France needed assistance after getting into difficulty during a hike that started at Sandy Bay around 8:00 am.
“By around 16:00 they had reached a gulley, near to Duiker Island, and were unable to cross the gulley and running out of daylight and reluctant to turn around and hike back to Sandy Bay, which would have lasted well into the night. The men also ran low on drinking water and with no warm clothing for the night they raised the alarm,” Pringle said.
Also read: NSRI saves a Humpback whale from an entanglement of fishing ropes in the West Coast
Pringle indicated that the sea rescue craft Albie Matthews and Tintswalo Phoenix were then launched, accompanied by a smaller rescue craft.
“On arrival on the scene, NSRI rescue swimmers were deployed to swim ashore. They reached the 3 casualties on the shore and in 2 relays they were transferred onto our sea rescue craft.
“The First 2 of the casualties were loaded onto the Croc, they were brought safely to the rescue craft Tintswalo Phoenix and then delivered further out to sea to board the rescue craft, Albie Matthews. The third man was then transferred from the shore in the same sequence,” Pringle explained.
The men were then transported to the NSRI Hout Bay sea rescue station aboard the sea rescue craft without incident and they required no further assistance.
Meanwhile, the NSRI is also appealing to the public, bathers, boaters, paddlers and sailboarders to have a safety-conscious approach when in and around coastal and inland waterways after responding to several incidents since the beginning of the year.
Also read:
Unidentified body washed ashore at Mnandi Beach believed to be missing teen
Picture: NSRI