Clifford Ireland, NSRI Durban station commander, said:
At 10h15 (Monday, 03rd September) NSRI Durban volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following reports of a group of 4 divers missing from a dive at Aliwal Shoal, off-shore of Umkomaas, near Durban.
The skipper of the dive charter boat, which is from Umkomaas Dive Supply, reported that the 4 divers, 2 males and 2 females, had dived at Aliwal Shoal but during the dive the skipper had lost sight of the dive marker buoy and had immediately activated NSRI Durban and his dive charter company to raise the alarm while initiating a search himself.
NSRI Durban dispatched NSRI volunteers, with one of the NSRI volunteers private rigid inflatable boats to be towed to the scene to be launched, a Transnet National Ports Authority rescue helicopter carrying an NSRI rescue swimmer was activated and Police Search and Rescue activated a Police helicopter to respond with Police Search and Rescue and Netcare 911 ambulance services were activated while 3 additional charter boat companies, Ocean Works, African Dive Adventures and ScubaXcursion, launched boats from the area to join in the search.
It was confirmed that at the time the Umkomaas Dive Supply charter boat was the only charter boat on the water conducting a dive.
It was also confirmed that the 4 divers were well equipped and highly experienced advanced divers and they included two local divers, a male and a female from Umkomaas, and two French divers, a male and a female.
Prior to the two rescue helicopters and prior to the NSRI's arrival on-scene the charter boat from African Dive Adventures found all 4 divers together, they were swimming towards shore in a group, and all 4 divers were rescued and brought to shore (by African Dive Adventures boat) where Netcare 911 paramedics confirmed that all 4 divers were safe and not injured.
It appears that the wind had picked up while the 4 divers were diving and on their surfacing from their dive they were approximately 300 meters upwind from their dive charter boat and despite using their referee whistles, against the wind, their calls to their boat skipper went unheard but by that stage the boat skipper, who had lost sight of the 4 divers, had raised the alarm while marking the position with the correct 'man overboard' procedure and initiating a search himself.
The 4 divers had grouped together, using their floatation devices, and they had swum towards shore and they had reached approximately 2.5 kilometers from their dive site (and 1.5 kilometers from the beach) when they were found safe. They are all confident that they would have reached the beach safely if they had not been found at sea.
NSRI commend the actions of the skipper of Umkomaas Dive Supply for not hesitating to activate an emergency. The 3 charter boat companies, from the area, are commended for volunteering to immediately launch a search in cooperation with sea rescue authorities, and the 4 divers are commended for maintaining a level headed approach to their predicament and gradually heading towards shore safely.
The actions of all involved averted this incident from escalating into something more serious.
-ENDS-
Released by:
Craig Lambinon
Sea Rescue Communications
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