TWO people were injured when a boat capsized in the surf-line while launching in Shelly beach on Friday.
The boat, Oupa’s Dream, reportedly had four men from Gauteng on board travelling in the Shelly Beach area at about 6.30am on Friday morning. According to NSRI Shelly Beach coxswain Pieter Venter, one of the occupants of the boat, a crew member, managed to motor the boat out to sea when it capsized despite hurting his back during the incident. Venter said that when the NSRI Shelly Beach duty crew arrived with Police Search and Rescue and MedEvac ambulance services, the man was standing-by at the backline and not confident to try to get the boat to shore through the incoming waves.
The rest of the members, the skipper and two crew members had managed to swim out to shore after being thrown out of the boat when it capsized. “A local boat, Mighty, was launched to assist and a local skipper was delivered to the casualty boat [Oupa’s Dream]. That [local] skipper brought the casualty boat to shore through the waves safely and without incident”, said Venter.
“Two of the casualty crew were injured, one man with an injured back and one man suffered a laceration to his face. Both injured men were transported to hospital in stable conditions”, Venter said.
