Cape Town - As the temperatures heat up in the Mother City, the City of Cape Town has begun the deployment of over 600 swimming pool and beach lifeguards for the summer.
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis joined City officials at Big Bay beach on Thursday for a simulated rescue and demonstration of first aid techniques with lifesaving services.
The next few months look set to be a scorcher, with many beachgoers and visitors keen to take advantage of the increasingly warm weather along the coast. The Cape Town Weather Office warned that this summer was expected to be warmer than the average summer, with normal rainfall conditions.
Hill-Lewis said: “We are here today to welcome the deployment of over 600 lifeguards on all of our beaches and at our 36 municipal swimming pools that will be open and well used by many hundreds of thousands of Capetonians for the peak holiday season.
“It's very important to us that everyone that uses these facilities and beaches, does so safely. We, as always, would like to target zero loss of life.”
Minutes after the mock rescue wrapped up, an actual near drowning occurred at the beach.
A youngster had eagerly entered the water looking to have some fun in the ocean with a blow-up mattress when he became overwhelmed by the tide and would have been swept away if it were not for the lifeguards on the scene who jumped into action.
Emerging from the water with the lifeguards, Sunningdale youngster Daniel White said: “If it was not for the lifeguards then I think I would have been pulled in further.”
Hill-Lewis said this incident illustrated how easy it was for people to become overwhelmed in the water, and why it was important to have these lifeguards there and that everyone listens to their instructions.
Community Services and Health Mayco member, Patricia van der Ross said: ”We had a lot of drownings in the last season but this year we want to look at not only the responsibility of lifeguards and the City, but also of family members and parents that take their kids to the beach.
“Be vigilant, know where your kids are, we are trying to make things easier from our side by having more manpower on beaches, but please swim between the flags, swim where directed and make sure you swim in hours when there are lifeguards on duty,” Van der Ross said.
Van der Ross said 21 people had already drowned this year and over the past three years, 86% of the total fatal drownings were males, while 60% of all fatalities were youth between 13 and 35-years-old.
kristin.engel@inl.co.za