The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is still looking for a missing young man and his three dogs on Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, after they went missing on Tuesday.
Also read: NSRI rescues 22 fishermen from sinking vessel off Cape Town coast
A second man was discovered dead.
According to NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon, the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Water Policing and Diving Services (WPDS), Table View SAPS, are still searching for missing 23-year-old Pierre Lotte from Kathu in the Northern Cape, as well as his three Dachshund dogs, along the Bloubergstrand shoreline.
‘The missing man was last seen wearing a cream shirt. The missing man can also be identified by tattoos on his inner arm. His family has requested privacy in this difficult time,’ Lambinon said.
NSRI Melkbosstrand station commander Hein Köhne stated that at 7.30pm, NSRI Table Bay was alerted by concerned relatives of two men and their three dogs who had not been heard from since 6.30pm after going fishing in the Bloubergstrand area on Kid’s Rock that afternoon.
NSRI Melkbosstrand and the NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) were notified.
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‘It was determined that the two men, ages 47 and 23, from Kathu in the Northern Cape, and their three Dachshund dogs had been fishing at Kid’s Rock, off-shore of Bloubergstrand, in the vicinity of the Blue Peter Hotel.
‘NSRI Melkbosstrand activated crews who responded to investigate and on arriving in the area, following a brief search, the 47-year-old man was found lifeless on the beach near the Blue Peter Hotel. NSRI medics initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) efforts.
‘CPR continued on the man while a search for the missing man and for the dogs was commenced. After all efforts to resuscitate the man were exhausted, sadly he was declared deceased by paramedics,’ Köhne said.
The City of Cape Town’s (CoCT) water rescue network was activated.
Community medics, Netcare 911 ambulance services, ER24 ambulance services, Western Cape Government Health EMS, SAPS, CoCT Law Enforcement, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, and Big Bay Surf Lifesaving (BBSL) all responded.
Police and Government Health Forensic Pathology Services took care of the deceased man’s body.
The NSRI Table Bay crew joined NSRI Melkbosstrand, police, paramedics, Fire and Rescue Services (including Fire and Rescue divers), local coastwatchers, and BBSL lifeguards in a massive shoreline search for the missing man and his three dogs.
The NSRI Melkbosstrand rescue craft Rotary’s Gift was launched, and Metro Control dispatched an EMS rescue squad drone search and rescue team to conduct a thorough thermal aerial search.
‘Two NSRI rescue swimmers and two BBSL lifeguards were deployed into the water to free dive search and to reach Kid’s Rock where a search of Kids Rock revealed no signs of the missing man and the three missing dogs.
‘Despite an extensive air, sea, and shoreline search there remain no signs of the missing man and the dogs. It is believed that they were fishing from Kid’s Rock and that they had been there the day before, fishing at Kid’s Rock, as well.
‘We believe that they had reached the rock at low tide, but during the incoming high tide, which peaked at 8.30pm, we suspect that somewhere between 6.30pm and 7.30pm they may have tried to swim across the channel,’ Köhne said.
Anyone with information that can help police find Pierre Lotte should call Tableview SAPS at 021 521 3338 or 10111.
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