THE heroic efforts of a Mossel Bay surfing instructor saved a boy and a man from drowning at Diaz Beach at the weekend, but two other small boys died after the group of four was dragged out to sea by powerful rip currents.

Police spokesman Captain Bernadine Steyn said 11-year-old Nkululeko Xaba and an unidentified boy drowned on Saturday despite the efforts of surfing instructor Llewellyn Whittaker and other surfers to save the four.

Nkululeko was still alive when brought back to the beach and given CPR by the surfers and a doctor who happened to be taking surf lessons from Whittaker, but died in hospital.

The other drowning victim, whose name had not been released as his family had not yet identified his body, was declared dead on the beach by paramedics.

The man and the other boy were admitted to hospital and both were in a stable condition yesterday, Steyn said.

All four were from Asla Park and Highway Park in KwaNonqaba, Mossel Bay, and apparently decided to cool off in the sweltering heat with a swim at Diaz Beach when tragedy struck.

Whittaker yesterday described the panic he witnessed when he paddled out on his surfboard after seeing three of the four swimmers in trouble.

“I was just about to start giving a lesson to a client when I saw them in the current. I reached the young man and one of the kids first. They were panicking and thrashing about when I got to them. The boy was too weak even to hold onto the surfboard, so I told the man to hang on to the board while I swam the boy back to the beach.”

Whittaker then swam back to the man clinging to the surfboard and took him back to the beach.

The NSRI said both of the people pulled out of the sea by Whittaker were treated by metro paramedics for near- drowning symptoms “and both are in a stable but serious condition” in hospital.

Whittaker said another rescuer who swam out with him, a boy aged about 14, had to return to shore alone because one of the drowning victims kept grabbing him and pulling him under the water.

When Whittaker next saw him, the victim was face-down in the water. The NSRI said he was pulled out of the sea by surfer Heinrich Engelbrecht, while Whittaker’s friend, Mike Sheppard, went out to the fourth victim, who was also floating face-down, and pulled him back to the beach.

The surfers, the doctor and other people on the beach gave the victims CPR for about 15 minutes until paramedics arrived and took over the treatment before rushing all four to hospital. Whittaker said the incident took place at low tide and the victims were not too far out, “but it gets super deep, super fast” at Diaz.