It has been alleged that this is the sandbank near the river mouth that the small tiller boat had hit prior to the disappearance of the six persons onboard as well as the boat. The incident occured on Thursday, August 9 at the river mouth on Keurbooms River (Poortjies). Leatitia Wildeman's body was found on Thursday evening, and her son Luan's body on Friday, August 10. Both were found near the river mouth, while Henry Waits' body was recovered on Tuesday, August 14 at the Dunes, Keurbooms Beach
PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - For the Wildeman and Figland families of Plettenberg Bay, Women's Day was marred by the tragic loss of six relatives who drowned on Thursday, August 9.
The body of 42-year-old Leatitia Wildeman was recovered hours after their tiller boat had allegedly hit a sandbank near the river mouth (Poortjies) of the Keurbooms River.
Relatives and friends who were anxiously waiting on the shore were devastated when the body of eight-year-old Luan Wildeman was found at about 09:00 on Friday, August 10, while the body of Henry Waits was found at the Dunes on Keurbooms Beach on Tuesday, August 14. Llewellyn Wildeman, Jeffrey Wildeman and Roland Figland were still missing at time of going to print.
"At 20:30 on the night of Thursday, August 9, NSRI Plettenberg Bay volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following reports of a tiller boat (a small river boat), six people onboard, overdue from fishing on the Keurbooms River," said Deon Truter, NSRI Plettenberg Bay station commander.
"Our NSRI Plettenberg Bay volunteer sea rescue duty crew launched our sea rescue craft, Ian Hepburn and our Discovery rescue runner while NSRI rescue swimmers and the SA Police Force responded to the scene."
On arrival on-scene a search commenced for six persons and their boat, four adult males, a female and her eight-year-old son.
Truter explained, "During a search the body of the female was located and recovered by NSRI Plettenberg Bay rescuers in the river mouth in the surf." Leatitia Wildeman was immediately identified on the scene by her husband, Dawid Wildeman and her body handed to the Forensic Pathology Services.
An extensive search was orchestrated by NSRI sea rescue craft and shore patrols, police, the police dive unit and Western Cape Government Health Emergency Medical Services rescue team and their Skymed helicopter.
Luan's body was recovered at daybreak by NSRI volunteers. "Shortly after the search commenced today (Friday, August 10) the body of the eight-year-old was found," confirmed Truter.
The bereaved father and husband, Dawid Wildeman and his daughters, Davidene and Laurencia Kapp were treated for trauma on the scene before being taken home.
The police divers found Henry Waits' body on Tuesday. According to Lieutenant Marlene Pieterse, SAPS media liaison, the families of the victims were at first unable to identify the body as one of the missing fishermen. However, Waits' son-in-law were able to identify him as his father-in-law when he went to view the body for a second time.
The search for the remaining three men, Roland Figland, Jeffrey Wildeman, and Llewellyn Wildeman continued. Their boat has also not yet been found.
The cause of the tragedy was still uncertain. "It remains unknown what transpired to cause the this incident but the location of the two bodies found (the body of the female found and recovered in the surf in the river mouth and the body of the child found and recovered in the surf between the two river mouths) has led NSRI to suspect that their small boat was washed out through the river mouth, but the NSRI is not speculating as to what may have caused this incident or whether the boat had capsized," said Truter.
A distressed Dawid Wildeman said he, Hendrik Julius and Roland Pieterse had been fishing with his wife, brothers and friend on the afternoon of the accident. He explained that he, Pieterse and Julius followed the ill-fated boat in a small canoe, heading for shore at Lookout Beach.
"We fished together often. They were far ahead of us and they phoned minutes after 19:00 to say that they had hit a sandbank. We tried to phone back but the cellphone signal cut out. We couldn't see anything because it had already become dark. We called out their names, but all you could hear was silence."
Julius recalled the events. "We all fished together, had such a lovely afternoon. We all left at the same time to place the canoe and boat on the shore. We were heading for Lookout Beach's toilets and the small engine boat was ahead of us. We could still hear it. But minutes later we received a call from Leatitia, saying that they had hit a sandbank and that the engine would not start. We heard a loud bash after which there was only silence.
"We immediately asked one another what we should do to locate our family and friends. Then I just took the canoe and decided to canoe across the river to the nearest sandbank I saw near the river mouth because Leatitia had told her husband that they were stranded near the river mouth. As I canoed on the river, I called for them, but no one answered. I was near the river mouth and sandbank, but there was no boat or persons in sight. Being so close to the river mouth, I began to fear for my own life because the currents were just so strong," explained a distraught Julius, who currently lives with Leatitia's family.
Julius said that they then went to the nearby caravan park where they alerted a holiday-maker from Port Elizabeth, Philip Burger of the incident. He contacted the NSRI.
Scores of relatives and friends gathered at the scene, waiting day by day for news of the remaining fishermen still lost at sea while the search continued despite bad weather conditions over the weekend.
According to a family member of the Wildeman fishermen, the search will continue till Friday, August 17. Rumours were going around that the families of the victims would have to pay for the eight-day search. To this allegation, Captain Bernadine Steyn said, "The SAPS Diving Unit will normally search for five days, but extensions can be granted. SAPS never have nor will request payment after a certain period of time searching for and diving for the missing people."
It was also alleged by several family members of the victims, that the police had assured them that a metal detector would be brought to the scene to assist in detecting the boat's engine, but by late Tuesday, August 14 this detector had not yet arrived. Accoriding to the bereaved family members the police told them on Friday, August 10, that the detector would arrive over the weekend. "Permission for the utilisation of a metal detector has not yet been granted," said Steyn on Monday, August 13.
"Not having the metal detector to assist with the search, caused quite a stir amongst families and friends waiting day-by-day on the shore for a possible breakthrough. We don't want to make the divers' jobs difficult. We just want them to do all they possibly can to find my life partner, Roland and the other two men. I just want to see Roland's body. His children haven't seen him yet and we would like to find closure and finding his body would give us that. We were unhappy to hear that the search might have concluded on Wednesday, August 15, but luckily we were given an extension till Friday, August 17," said Belinda Solomons.
"We will always wonder, have this hole in our hearts. We will only find closure once their bodies are found. Not knowing where they are at this point in time, just makes it feel as if they will walk through the door with their fishing equipment, as if they were only gone for the day. It feels to me that Roland have just gone fishing and is to return tonight," she said.
She further said that should Roland's body not be found by Friday, the family will host a memorial service for Roland.
Dawid Wildeman said, "Should my brothers' bodies not be found by Tuesday evening, we will have to make arrangements for my wife and son to be laid to rest this Saturday. We would have loved to have a mass funeral for all of them."
Bitou's executive mayor, Memory Booysen expressed his condolences on behalf of the Plettenberg Bay community and municipality. "This is indeed a sad day for Plettenberg Bay. What makes it even more emotional is the fact that I know one of the victims, Llewellyn Wildeman. I am deeply sorry to hear about the affected families' loss. We will support the affected families in the best way we can. I extend our sincerest condolences to the families."
The families wish to thank the community for their support, the municipality as well as all the organisations and churches who have been supporting them during their time of grief. Steyn said, "Three men are still missing and the search continues today (Wednesday, August 15) in the form of foot patrols along the shore."
Several relatives and friends gathered on the shore anxiously waiting for news of several fishermen who drowned near the river mouth on Keurbooms River (Poortjies) on Thursday, August 9. Six New Horizon residents, Leatitia Wildeman, Luan Wildeman, Jeffrey Wildeman, Llewellyn Wildeman, Henry Waits, and Roland Figland lost their lives after their boat had apparently become stuck on a sandbank and presumably got swept out to sea.
ARTICLE: ROZANO ALIE, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
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