Calls for caution after spate of drownings

WITH hordes of people expected to stream into beaches on New Year’s Day, Eastern Cape health authorities have again appealed to beachgoers not to jump into the water without the presence of lifeguards.

The plea comes after a member of the public had to be rescued from drowning in Blue Waters in Port Elizabeth on the Day of Goodwill.

The body of a 10-year-old boy was also recovered from the Umzivumbu River on the same day after he drowned a few days before Christmas.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo was concerned most drowning victims were children.

“If you look at them [drownings], it is children between 10 and 12 years,” he said.

“That shows that children are being allowed to go swimming without any adult supervision.”

The latest drowning brings the number of drownings reported in the Eastern Cape in the past two weeks to five.

Last week, the Dispatch reported that three children had drowned.

Among them was an eightyeargirl who drowned while taking a swim at the popular Second Beach in Port St Johns.

The victim’s 12-year-old friend survived and had to be rushed to hospital.

Kupelo said the incident took place shortly after lifeguards employed by the municipality to man the town’s beaches had knocked off and gone home.

Meanwhile another bather, described as a middle-aged man from Lusikisiki, is believed to have drowned at the same beach.

Kupelo told the paper yesterday that a search and rescue mission to try and retrieve the body had since been called off.

Two seven-year-old boys also drowned in East London and Butterworth in the past few days. —