WATER SAFETY: Family outings end in tragedy as two children drown in separate Western Cape incidents

Two children drowned during family outings at Western Cape coastal spots in separate incidents over the past week, including a nine-year-old boy who died at Kleinmond Main Beach Lagoon on Saturday.

The nine-year-old was found underwater at the lagoon on Saturday, 10 October. Bystanders recovered him and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) before emergency services arrived.

The station commander of Kleinmond National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), Schalk Boonzaaier, said on Sunday that the rescue service was activated at 3.12pm following eyewitness reports of a drowning in progress.

Multiple emergency services, including police, Overstrand Fire and Rescue, Critical Care Medical, ER24, and NSRI rescue teams responded to the incident. Paramedics and NSRI medics carried out prolonged CPR, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the child was declared dead.

The incident follows the death of an eight-year-old boy at Camps Bay Tidal Pool in Cape Town on Monday, 5 October.

NSRI Bakoven station commander Bevan Geyser said the crew was alerted to a drowning in progress at 5.41pm.

“The child had reportedly been playing in and around the pool ... when it appears he had been discovered in the pool unresponsive, and he was recovered from the pool where bystander CPR was commenced, and the alarm was raised,” reads the statement by the NSRI.

Emergency personnel – including NSRI Bakoven crew and medics, Clifton Surf Lifesaving, City lifeguards, community medics, Law Enforcement, and the police – responded to the incident. Despite prolonged advanced life support resuscitation attempts by paramedics, the boy could not be revived and was pronounced dead.

Improved lifesaving

Cape Town’s fatal drownings occur “almost always outside of the lifesaving areas”, often when children slip or fall off rocks, says JP Smith, the City’s mayoral committee member for safety and security.

Smith said the number of drownings along the city’s coastline had declined significantly over the years, largely due to improved lifesaving and rescue operations.

“When I started at the City, it was nothing uncommon to see 13 to 30 drownings over the season. But that has now become a much rarer thing,” he said.

“We’ve got way better lifesaving systems in place. Way more lifesavers, way better rescue operations and stuff along the coastline between fire and law enforcement and our patrol boats.”

However, Smith said the coastline’s many hidden spots remained a challenge, particularly in areas that could not be monitored by lifesavers or law enforcement.

“Sadly, you can’t see all the nooks and crannies, and so it becomes especially problematic when people are in spaces which are not observable by lifesavers or anyone,” he said.

With temperatures rising and more people heading to beaches to cool off, Smith urged bathers to swim only in designated safe swimming areas and called on parents to keep a close eye on their children.

He warned that children could easily become separated from their families at busy beaches, placing additional pressure on law enforcement officers.

“One of the big problems we have over the summer days, particularly over weekends, is that we end up with a not insubstantial number of children who get separated from their families and simply wander about,” he said.

Smith said officers often had to look after these children while waiting for their parents to return, sometimes for several hours. DM