Two elderly men drown in KZN

AS TEMPERATURES soared in Kwa Zulu-Natal yesterday, at least two drownings were reported.

A 65-year-old Krugersdorp man died at Shelly Beach on the South Coast while scuba diving and a 68-year-old man drowned in a swimming pool in the Pietermaritzburg area.

Craig Lambinon, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson, said it was believed that the Krugersdorp man had stopped breathing during a scuba dive.

“He was recovered to the dive boat and the crew initiated CPR and brought him to shore, where paramedics continued (to try to save him),” he said. However, the man was declared dead.

According to ER24 spokesperson Ineke van Huyssteen, a man drowned in a pool in Lynnfield Park, outside Pietermaritzburg.

“When ER24 paramedics arrived shortly before 11am, the man had already been removed from the pool. He was declared dead,” said Van Huyssteen.

Meanwhile, Kwa Zulu-Natal sea rescue authorities are still searching for a 14-year-old boy who is presumed to have been swept out to sea at Mfazana Beach on the South Coast.

Just before 3pm on Wednesday, rescue swimmers had been sent to the beach following reports of a drowning, the NSRI said.

They were joined by the police search-and-rescue unit officers but there was no sign of the teenager.