By Kouthar Sambo

Tragic scenes played out at Sonwabe Beach, False Bay, beach on Monday following a drowning incident where three males were caught up in rip currents and swept out to sea.

Speaking on VOC’s Holiday Shift on Tuesday, the sister of the missing male, Naiemah George, said the family is trying to hold the faith as they are still hoping to find the body.

“My brother and his wife’s nephew spotted a little boy in the water and went in to save the boy. They got the boy out, but while they were in the water, both of them got swept by the current,” said George.

“The waves push my brother’s wife’s nephew out, and they tried to resuscitate him, but he did not make it. When they came around to look for my brother, he was gone. You could see his hand waving, but he got swept deeper by the waves. He was shouting for help, and nobody could get into the water because the waves were so high. Before I knew it, he was gone,” explained George.

The water looked rough, she described, and the waves came crashing one after the other. The ambulance was on the scene, and the fire brigade said George, all trying to locate my brother’s body, but no success.

“We are still currently at the beach, searching for his body, and there has been no sign of him,” added George.

Meanwhile, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in Strandfontein duty crew was activated to attend to the scene.

“An 8-year-old and a 12-year-old male were out of the water, while a 28-year-old male was missing. However, male bystanders had assisted the 12-year-old out of the water, and they tried to assist the 28-year-old male. After all efforts to resuscitate the teenager, he was sadly declared deceased,” detailed NSR’s Craig Lambinon.

“The 12-year-old male was transported to hospital by EMS ambulance in a stable condition for observation for non-fatal drowning symptoms. He is the brother of the 18-year-old deceased male – they are from Woodstock,” clarified Lambinon.

The search for the 28-year-old male continues, with no signs of the missing man thus far.

Photo: NSR/Facebook