Cape Town rescuers search for students swept out to sea

The search for two Cape Town university students who went missing at sea over the weekend continues.

Four people – two young men and two young women – were swept out to sea at Strand beach on Saturday.

The incident occurred at Pipe‚ a notorious surfing area known for big waves and strong rip currents.

Lifeguards were able to assist in recovering one of the missing women‚ another was rescued by friends.

It was confirmed that the University of the Western Cape’s Christian Church group had arrived at the beach on Saturday.

The students entered the water at an area where signage clearly indicates that it is a no-swimming area.

Lifeguards continued to search for two men – aged 19 and 20 from Venda – but extremely rough sea conditions forced them to withdraw from the water as a sea rescue craft arrived on the scene on Sunday.

An extensive air‚ sea and shoreline search ensued but there was no sign of the two men.

Sea conditions were rough with 2.5 to 3 meter breaking swells‚ a strong south-easterly and poor visibility.