Dive Bug Bit Me
Contributor
This is errily similar to the events on 11 Nov 2012 at the same site. Only this time, it was one person, not nine.
Diver rescued after 7 hours at sea | News24
Diver rescued after 7 hours at sea
2013-02-27 11:40
Ayanda Mdluli, The Witness
Durban - A diver who went missing on Tuesday morning was found after drifting for more than seven hours in the rough seas off the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Jean-Pierre Els, 30, of Uvongo, went missing at around 08:00 at Shelly Beach.
The dive master for a diving company was 12km offshore of Shelly Beach at Protea Banks when he got swept away while conducting a group charter dive.
National Sea Rescue Institute Shelly Beach station commander Mark Harlen said Els was located by the Transnet National Ports Authority rescue helicopter at around 15:20 off the shore of Port Edward, which was about 45km from where he originally went missing.
Harlen said Els got separated from the dive charter group while diving. When he surfaced from the dive he had no sight of the dive charter boat.
“He drifted for over seven hours in the two- to three-metre rough sea swell and a 30 knot wind until he was found. An NSRI rescue swimmer was deployed into the water from the rescue helicopter to secure the diver, who was then airlifted to our Shelly Beach rescue base,” he said.
Harlen explained that although Els was exhausted, dehydrated and had experienced some sunburn, he did not need to be hospitalised.
Link to the previous event at Protea Banks
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/438933-9-lost-divers-found-south-africa.html
Diver rescued after 7 hours at sea | News24
Diver rescued after 7 hours at sea
2013-02-27 11:40
Ayanda Mdluli, The Witness
Durban - A diver who went missing on Tuesday morning was found after drifting for more than seven hours in the rough seas off the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Jean-Pierre Els, 30, of Uvongo, went missing at around 08:00 at Shelly Beach.
The dive master for a diving company was 12km offshore of Shelly Beach at Protea Banks when he got swept away while conducting a group charter dive.
National Sea Rescue Institute Shelly Beach station commander Mark Harlen said Els was located by the Transnet National Ports Authority rescue helicopter at around 15:20 off the shore of Port Edward, which was about 45km from where he originally went missing.
Harlen said Els got separated from the dive charter group while diving. When he surfaced from the dive he had no sight of the dive charter boat.
“He drifted for over seven hours in the two- to three-metre rough sea swell and a 30 knot wind until he was found. An NSRI rescue swimmer was deployed into the water from the rescue helicopter to secure the diver, who was then airlifted to our Shelly Beach rescue base,” he said.
Harlen explained that although Els was exhausted, dehydrated and had experienced some sunburn, he did not need to be hospitalised.
Link to the previous event at Protea Banks
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/438933-9-lost-divers-found-south-africa.html