With increasing visitors and residents heading to beaches during the festive season, the City of Cape Town has bolstered its resources to ensure the safety of beachgoers.

On Saturday, MMC for Safety and Security JP Smith and staff inspected beaches along the False Bay coast in a helicopter. It’s a pilot project which the city embarked on at the beginning of December.

Officials from the city visited various beaches including Muizenberg, Strandfontein, Mnandi, and Strand using the helicopter.

Beachgoers were seen in the water, others on the sand with picnic baskets and umbrellas under the watchful eye of lifeguards and safety volunteers.

Metro police and law enforcement officers were also on the roads leading to beaches conducting stops and searches.

Smith said using the helicopter enabled them to monitor areas in a shorter period as opposed to using a vehicle.

“We contracted the helicopter for some hours over the festive season to be able to go out and respond to incidents on the ground. We were able to respond to several incidents almost every day that we were out; we’ve actually found the helicopter to be extremely useful,” he said.

He added that there were three different routes they would be covering until January.