Durban – A 4-year-old boy drowned in swimming pool on the Bluff in the Durban south area on Thursday.
While the circumstances leading up to the tragic incident will form part of a police investigation, Garrith Jamieson of ALS Paramedics, said they arrived at the home just before 2pm, to find the boy in a state of cardiac arrest.
“Despite a lengthy resuscitation effort from all paramedics unfortunately the child passed away on the scene.
“It is alleged the child fell into the pool and was found in the water before CPR was started,” Jamieson said.
He said police were at the scene and will be investigating further.
In a separate incident, a father drowned at Glenmore beach in Port Edward on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast. The man had allegedly gone into the water to rescue his son who had been caught in a rip current.
National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) station commander in Port Edward, Gert du Plessis, said they were alerted to reports of a drowning in progress and by the time they arrived, the 38-year-old man and his 11-year-old boy had been pulled out of the water by people at the beach.
“They had initiated cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts on the father. Sadly, paramedics declared the patient deceased. Medical treatment continued on the boy, who was transported to hospital in a serious but stable condition by Netcare 911 ambulance. The child is expected to make a full recovery,” Du Plessis said.
The NSRI’s Mike Vonk said many beaches around South Africa have powerful rip currents which can pull a swimmer away from the beach to behind where the waves form, in a couple of minutes.
“A rip current will not pull you under the water, but will pull a swimmer away from the beach. If caught in a rip the most important thing is not to panic. Swim out of the current at 90 degrees to the direction in which you are being pulled and use the waves to swim back to shore. Or flip on your back and float until the current runs out of strength and you can swim back to the beach,” Vonk said.
IOL