Swim ends in tragedy for three boys at the Vaal Dam

A swimming outing ended tragically when police divers recovered the bodies of three boys who drowned in the Vaal Dam on Saturday.

Fishermen raised the alarm just before 1pm of a drowning in progress at Rate Payers Bay, Deneysville.

NSRI Vaal Dam station commander Jake Manten said in a statement that a rescue craft and vehicle had responded. Rescue swimmers conducted a free-dive search for three boys, aged seven, eight and nine, who were missing. A fourth child, the brother of the eight-year-old was not injured.

"The remaining two children are a cousin, of the two brothers, and a friend.

"Police divers conducted a scuba dive search and located and recovered the bodies of the three children. The bodies of the children have been taken into the care of the forensic pathology services and police have opened an inquest docket," said Manten.

"It appears that they got into difficulty while swimming at an area that has shallow water leading to a lip with a sudden drop in water depth. Water conditions were rough waters with strong winds at the time," he said.

Just hours later, in Jeffreys Bay, a foreign tourist was pulled from the surf after suffering a suspected heart attack at 6:15pm.

Ernie Schmidt, NSRI Jeffreys Bay duty controller, said: "On arrival on the scene we found a 55-year-old male had been rescued from shallow surf by a bystander and CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) efforts were commenced.

"Despite extensive CPR efforts conducted by NSRI medics and by paramedics after all efforts were exhausted sadly the man has been declared deceased.

"The man and his wife are foreigners on a holiday to Jeffreys Bay with friends from Johannesburg. The wife and the friends are being supported by police and condolences are conveyed to his wife, family and friends."