Retrieving a car from river: a diver, truck and rubber duck
The name of the road to East Beach, Port Alfred, is Miles Bowker Drive. After passing the last of the houses on the Marina, the road takes a 90° turn to the left before reaching the East Beach parking lot, about 200m further on.
Late on Saturday November 4, the driver of a Haval station wagon failed to make the right-angle turn and instead went straight across the roadside bush into the Kowie River.
Fortunately, the driver and a passenger in the vehicle survived the crash. The recovery team of diver Jandre ‘Terry’ Terblanche and boat skipper Adrian Mouton managed to tow the vehicle to the Port Alfred River and Ski Boat Club, where Kowie Towing completed the operation, putting it onto a flatbed truck and removing it from the river.
Talk of the Town was there throughout the recovery. But beforehand, it looked like an impossible task.
Terblanche explained how they had located the car, and how they planned to recover it.
As you can see from the photos
taken, their plan worked. “We first located the vehicle with a fish finder, then I had to get down there to see what condition the car was in – whether we would be able to tow it – whether it was upside-down, and just the general condition of it.
“Now that we know what we’re dealing with, we’re preparing to start the diving operation: we’re putting some rigging together and then we’ll lift it. From there on, we’ll tow it to the slipway and hand it over to the towtruck service,” he said.
First, however, they had to wait for approval from the insurance company.
Motor car salvages were the most complicated, Terblanche said.
“It does get tricky – just finding the right rigging points, getting a place to take it out the water: sometimes you’ll need a big crane – or something strong enough to take it out.
“This bank is quite steep, which is why we’re going to try and drag it to the slipway.”
How?
“With a boat, dive gear and some drums: we’ll use the drums to add some buoyancy to the car.”
Is it a special kind of boat? “No,” said Mouton. “I’ve got a rubber duck [inflatable boat] and we think that once we’ve got the car off the river bed, we’ll be able to tow it.”
Is that car going to drive again? “No. Everything is going to rust and you would have to spend a lot of money restoring it.
“You’re gonna have to strip the car completely and get the water out the engine, the fabric, the carpets.”
How do you get to be someone who does this kind of operation?
Terblanche has a commercial diving licence.
“You can’t dive and get paid as a sports diver,” he explained.
For visuals, including exclusive underwater footage, visit Talk of the Town’s Facebook page.