Three swimmers have been swept away by a rogue wave, a violent maritime phenomenon, and 17 others have been significantly injured Saturday on a preferred South African seaside, emergency providers mentioned on Sunday.
“There was a rogue wave that swept folks out to sea, three drowned and 17 have been taken to hospital,” Robert Mckenzie, spokesman for the KwaZulu-Natal provincial emergency providers, informed AFP.
He mentioned that one of many lifeless was a toddler of seven or 8 years. The injured are “in critical or essential situation”.
The Durban Metropolis Council mentioned later that the three lifeless, together with “a youngster”, had been “swept out to sea by currents”, including that 35 rescue personnel have been mobilized on this “mass rescue effort”.
Medical personnel have been additionally attending to the 100 folks affected by the incident.
The occasion occurred at round 17:00 native time (15:00 GMT) at Bay of A lot, one of many seashores of Durban, the third largest metropolis in South Africa.
Durban has been regularly reopening its seashores after they have been closed resulting from excessive ranges of E.coli from town’s sewage system, which was severely broken by floods this 12 months. These floods killed greater than 400 folks in April.