Three men have died in two drowning incidents at Milnerton and Bloubergstrand at the weekend, says the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
The bodies of two Joe Slovo Park men, aged 19 and 20, were found washed ashore at Lagoon Beach, Milnerton, on Monday, said NSRI spokesman, Craig Lambinon.
The bodies had yet to be formally identified by their families, he said.
It’s believed the two young men were swept away by a rip current after they went into the water at Lagoon Beach on Sunday morning to retrieve a soccer ball.
The men are believed to have played for the Lokshin Spurs Soccer Club in Phoenix.
In a statement, the club said the men, who had last been seen playing the sport they loved, would be “sorely missed”.
Milnerton Surf Lifesaving Club lifeguards responded from their homes after being alerted by members of the public, but they found no sign of the men by the time they reached the scene, according to the club chairwoman, Bonita Jones.
“We are not yet in the lifesaving season, and there are no lifeguards on duty during this time of the year, but they do assist when called out,” she said.
In a separate incident, a fisherman drowned after being washed off the rocks at Small Bay in Bloubergstrand on Saturday.
Police divers recovered his body on Sunday following an extensive air, sea and shoreline search, said Mr Lambinon, adding that the man’s family had yet to identify the body.
The drownings come just over two months after Pierre Lotter, 23, his three dachshunds and his uncle, Willem Pretorious, 47, were swept away by waves while they were fishing at Kids Rock in Blouberg on Tuesday May 14.
Mr Pretorious’s body was found the next day, and Mr Lotter’s body was found on Sunday May 19 (“Tragic end to search for man, 23, and three dogs,” Tabletalk, May 22).
Two weeks later, the NSRI installed two pink rescue buoys just off Kleinbaai in Bloubergstrand (“NSRI buoys remember drowning victims,” Tabletalk, June 12).
