Mist causes chaos on West Coast

Crayfish boats on the West Coast were caught unawares late yesterday afternoon when a thick mist moved in extremely fast all the way up the coast.

Mykonos Sea Rescue were put on standby as the weather moved in and eight crayfish boats were caught out at sea in the mist.

According to Darius Van Niekerk, Station Commander at Mykonos the first call was for a crayfish boat off Doringbaai lost in thick mist. After that the calls were received in quick succession for four crayfish boats in the mist at Hondeklipbaai and a bigger crayfish boat with two smaller “bakkies” (small row boats) off Lamberts Bay.

The boat at Doringbaai saw a searchlight being shone out to sea by the Police and was able to get safely back to land and the four boats, which were together off Hondeklipbaai, were brought back safely by a private vessel with navigation equipment on board.

The final group of three boats off Muisbosskerm ( Lamberts Bay) waited for the mist to lift. All were safely home by 22h00.

“Because people on shore knew where the boats were they could be helped to get safely back to shore,” said Darius.

- NSRI