A young man swept out to sea while swimming with his best friend at St Francis Bay on Saturday was rescued after an hour thanks to the quick thinking of a National Sea Rescue Institute coxswain who happened to be fishing nearby.
The incident happened on Saturday morning when friends Yannis Coetzer and Morgan Lindsay went for a swim at Cape St Francis, between Main Beach and Cape St Francis Resort.
Sara Smith, commander of the NSRI's St Francis Bay station, said a crew was activated on Saturday morning after they received reports of a drowning in progress.
Lindsay and Coetzer had been swept out to sea and were beyond the breakers and caught in rip currents. Lindsay, who was the stronger swimmer of the two, decided to head back to shore to find help for Coetzer, who was too tired to risk trying to swim back through the surf zone.
Lindsay, who lives in the area, made it to the beach where he found friends of his parents out walking. He used their phone to call the NSRI and raise the alarm, alerting them to the fact that Coetzer was missing offshore.
“While our NSRI duty crew responded to our NSRI St Francis Bay station 21 rescue base to prepare to launch an NSRI rescue craft, NSRI rescue swimmers responded directly to the scene,” Smith said.
A priority care ambulance was also dispatched.
Smith said that coxswain Louis Fouche happened to be out fishing with his friends Barry Culligan and John Lagaay. They were on Culligan's boat Avrikiti about two nautical miles from the scene when the emergency call came in.
“They responded on Avrikiti and on reaching the area, following a brief search, they quickly located Coetzer who was floating at the backline breakers. When they reached him they were able to pull him onto the boat safely,” said Smith.
“He was tired, dehydrated and showed signs of non-fatal drowning symptoms after being in the water for about an hour.”
Coetzer told his rescuers he had been trying to stay afloat, at the mercy of the sea currents that were gradually sweeping him towards the shoreline. He was grateful to Lindsay for calling for help.
Fouche and his friends were able to start treatment on Coetzer immediately and then took him to the NSRI St Francis Rescue Base for assessment by paramedics who found he was fit to be immediately discharged.
The NSRI commended skipper Culligan and his crew on Avrikiti for their efforts that contributed to saving Coetzer's life.
TimesLIVE
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