Cape Town - A local medical student is able to walk and has returned to his studies after narrowly escaping permanent disability after being injured at the Bos 400 wreck near Sandy Bay.
The 19-year-old and three friends had hiked to the Bos 400 wreck at Maori Bay, south of Sandy Bay. They gained access to the wreck’s crane structure and were jumping off the structure into the water, according to NSRI Hout Bay station commander Spencer Oldham, whose crew responded to the call.
“He landed badly and felt pain in his lower back area. His friends extricated him to the level rock area next to the wreck and then phoned NSRI.”
Oldham said their standard operating procedure for these types of calls was to attend the scene with a paramedic and then determine the level and mechanism of injury, stabilise the casualty.
‘“If a spinal injury is suspected, we conduct a full spinal immobilisation on the patient – and then extract and recover to base.
“Our first prize of extraction would be to airlift the packaged casualty, but that was not possible in this case; the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter was not available as they were committed to an inland operation. So another rescue vessel was dispatched from Station 8, accompanied by EMS rescue paramedics, to the rescue site.”
The student was stabilised and secured to a specialised stretcher, floated to an NSRI rescue craft where he was transported to the NSRI station, and hospital.
His injuries included a fractured coccyx, though luckily his injuries were not permanent: he is able to walk and has returned to his studies.
The BOS 400, a French barge, ran aground during a storm while being towed by the Russian tugboat Tigr in 1994, on the same site as an earlier wreck, that of the SS Oakburn, a British cargo steamer. There are also several other wrecks in the wider area.
“The water around the BOS 400 wreck is at maximum 20 metres deep,” said Oldham.
“The helipad and superstructure of the BOS 400 broke off early in September 2010; these have corroded over the years and now pose a hazard in the form of rusted metal which lies just below the surface of the water. The superstructure is breaking down and has been observed to move around with the currents and winter storm sets, so if it is observed in one position, the chances are it has moved since the previous year.
“Due to the kelp beds and underlying rock structure, it is extremely difficult to see the metal under the water from the crane, so when people jump off the crane in the water, they are risking serious injury,” Oldham said.
The wreck is also generally a difficult area to access as it requires a long hike from either Hout Bay over the back of Hangberg, or hiking from Sandy Bay along the coast.
“We have actually rescued more hikers from that area that have gotten lost in the rabbit warrens of pathways through the fynbos, and have ended up at the BOS 400 rocks extremely dehydrated, than we have actually extricated injured patients from the wreck.”
Oldham appealed to the public to avoid the Bos 400 wreck.
Cape Times