Two drown in KZN beaches on New Year’s Day
It has been a tragic start to the New Year for two KwaZulu-Natal families who lost their loved ones due to drownings in the province.
Paramedics say they responded to two drownings and a near drowning across the province yesterday.
On Widenham Beach in Umkomaas, on the KZN south coast, a 15-year-old boy died while trying to save another teen from drowning.
The teenage boy got into the water to assist a teenage girl, who got into difficulty while swimming.
Netcare 911's Chris Botha says he himself then got into trouble.
"He was pulled out with the help of bystanders on the beach but he was unresponsive. The young girl was in a serious but stable condition.
''The paramedics tried very hard to resuscitate the boy on scene and in the end loaded him into an ambulance and continued the resuscitation all the way to a hospital in Amanzimtoti," he said.
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Meanwhile in La mercy, a man disappeared under the water while he had been swimming in the Lagoon.
Botha says initially paramedics were unable to find him.
"A lifeguard and a member from a Special Rescue Unit in Ballito dived and found the man and as the SAP Search and Rescue arrived on scene, the two gentlemen had pulled the man from the water.
''Tragically though paramedics were unable to resuscitate him," he said.
(File photo: Gallo Images)