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It was meant to be the final day of their two-week vacation to Bali for Despatch farmer Victor Allers and his Brazilian wife Fatima Turner. But a boat trip near Devil’s Tear cove in Nusa Lembongan island would be their last excursion in Indonesia.
Bali's Search and Rescue Agency told local publication Coconuts Bali that the pair died after a big wave hit their boat causing it to capsize.
The captain of Nagasima-Go, who was taking the two around Nusa Lembongan, was injured but survived. He had reportedly swum to the nearby cliffs and was helped up by residents.
Relative Belinda Coetzee told News24 that their grief was exacerbated as they were unable to get information or answers from Indonesian authorities as to what happened on Monday.
Coetzee said the family had seen a video of the waves and the overturned boat on Instagram.
"They had no life jackets, nothing. They threw a tube to the captain and pulled him out. [The Indonesian government] must be held accountable – this was a tourist thing and their safety should have been of importance," she argued.
Fatima was asthmatic, Coetzee said.
"I don't know whether she had an attack or not as they were apparently swimming and trying to get locals' attention. But no one helped."
An eyewitness who was at the scene however has detailed how they tried to save the couple and the captain after witnessing the boat capsizing.
Bystanders did all they could to help a Despatch couple when they were whipped around in choppy waves before drowning while on holiday in Bali last Monday, one witness said.
"We tried," Luke Scarborough of the UK told News24. "No one could go in or same thing would have happened to them."
UPDATE: 'We tried,' UK tourist says after battle to save SA couple who drowned in Bali
The couple, who each had one child, had been island-hopping in Southeast Asia at the time.
They owned a welding business and a pig farm just outside Despatch, a small town in between Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape.
"We found out about what happened when someone phoned Fatima's secretary. Nobody had phoned my sister, Victor's mother."
The family was in contact with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), Coetzee said.
The couple had been retrieved from the water by a passing boat but had already been unconscious, Coconuts Bali reported. They were declared dead at a local community health centre.
Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela said the department was aware of the boat accident in which Allers and his wife died.
"His next-of-kin have been informed of his death and Dirco is rendering the necessary consular assistance to his family."
* This story has been updated to include comment from an eyewitness.
