A student is missing after he got into difficulty while swimming with friends at East Beach in Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape on Friday.

National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon said at approximately 1.42 am on Friday morning, the NSRI Port Alfred duty crew were activated following reports of a person missing at East Beach.

Lambinon said it appears that three friends, two males and a female, Rhodes University students, had gone swimming when all three may have been caught in rip currents.

“One man and the female were reportedly able to swim to safety,” he said, adding that they were not injured.

He said a 22-year-old man from Limpopo, now living in Makhanda, reportedly went missing in the surf zone.

NSRI Port Alfred rescue swimmers, an NSRI rescue vehicle, the SA Police Services, and Multi Security responded to the incident.

In addition, Lambinon said the NSRI rescue craft Rescue 11 Alpha was launched.

“An extensive search operation for the missing man commenced. Despite the extensive sea and shoreline search, no signs of the missing man were found,” he said.

He said on Friday the NSRI Port Alfred rescue craft, an NSRI rescue vehicle, and NSRI rescue swimmers assisted the SA Police Services, Police K9 Search and Rescue, and SAPS Water Policing and Diving Services (WPDS) in ongoing search efforts that are being led by Police.

Lambinon said the man remains missing and police have opened an investigation.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the missing man in this difficult time,” he said.

Ranging in width from just a few metres to a hundred metres, the NSRI said rip currents pull to just behind where the waves form and then lose their power. A rip current is not the same as a rip tide, which is formed as the tide ebbs and flows through a narrow opening such as an estuary, the NSRI noted.

Rip currents: How to spot them and what to do when caught in one

Rip currents are able to develop where there are breaking waves. Bigger waves produce stronger currents, and these “rivers” of current are produced by water moving from the beach back out to sea. They happen all the time at many beaches and are the biggest danger that visitors face in the water.

As with all risks, avoiding rip currents altogether is the safest strategy. To do this, swim at a beach where lifeguards are on duty and swim between their flags.

Although an untrained eye may struggle to see rip currents, stronger rip currents give telltale signs. With patience and careful observation, it is not hard to see that water in a channel or “river” between breaking waves is moving away from the beach. The current may not flow straight out from the beach; it may flow at an angle or have a bend or two in it before it gets to the backline where waves are forming.

This is what you should look out for:

• Water through a surf zone that is a different colour to the surrounding water.
• A change in the incoming pattern of waves (often the waves are not breaking in a rip channel).
• Seaweed, sand “clouds” or debris moving out to the backline where waves are forming through the surf zone.
• Turbulent or choppy water in the surf zone in a channel or river-like shape flowing away from the beach.

karen.singh@inl.co.za

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