Three Gauteng men swam about three kilometres to shore after drifting for about four hours in the sea on their capsized boat south of Sodwana on the northern KwaZulu-Natal coast on Friday.
A search was launched for the three men‚ who are from Centurion‚ on Friday afternoon after family reported that they were overdue after launching earlier in the day to go fishing off Sodwana on a 19-foot ski-boat‚ Salticrack.
After searching for more than two hours‚ the men were found safe on Friday evening - walking along the beach after a two-hour swim to shore after their boat capsized.
“It has been confirmed that the three men were capsized by a wave at around 10.30am‚ They drifted sitting on the upturned hull for over 4 hours‚ but they kept being washed off the hull which was causing them to become exhausted.
“Noticing that they were drifting south but not getting any closer to shore one of the men dived under the boat to recover life-jackets and they made the decision to swim to shore with their life-jackets on and the swim took them just over 2 hours‚” the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) at Richards Bay said.
Skipper Etienne Fouche‚ who is also an NSRI volunteer at NSRI Hartbeespoort Dam‚ and his crew‚ HJ Swanepoel and F van Wyk‚ aged between 31 and 34 were not injured‚ the NSRI said.
“On arrival on the shore‚ sunburnt and tired‚ they marked their position by leaving their life-jackets on the beach to attract any attention of anyone who might be searching for them and to mark where they had come ashore to give an indication of where a search should begin for their capsized craft adrift at sea.
“While walking northwards towards Sodwana‚ they were located by My Lady Charters who were searching the shoreline using 4x4 vehicles.” The men’s boat was found washed ashore 13.8km south of Sodwana on Saturday morning by Isimangaliso Wetland staff who have arranged for the boat to be recovered.
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