Police are investigating an inquest into the death of a 17-year-old teenager who drowned at a dam between Monzi and Mtubatuba near St. Lucia.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in St. Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal, was alerted to a drowning in progress at around 7.15 am on 1 September.
According to Melinda Snyman, the Station Commander of the NSRI St. Lucia, the local community pointed the rescue team to an area in the dam where the teenage boy went missing.
A free dive search by NSRI rescue divers led to the discovery of the teenager’s lifeless body along the shoreline.
Police confirmed that the young boy had died.
Rip current sweeps teenager out to sea
In a separate incident on 29 August, the NSRI in Melkbosstrand was informed of two teenagers in distress on Bloubergstrand Beach in Tableview, Cape Town
Eyewitness reports indicate that the two boys believed to be surfing were in trouble.
Station Commander Rowan Marais said a rescue mission commenced, which included Water Policing and Diving Services.
“One of the two male teenagers had reached the shoreline and was not injured. The other teenager, a local male, aged 16, was witnessed being swept out to sea in strong rip currents before disappearing,” said Marais.
Marais said an extensive sea, air, and shoreline search was undertaken, but there was no sign of the missing teenager.
Search operations for the missing teenager continued by the police and police divers.
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