Man feels incompetent after failing to save child’s life
A man feels incompetent after failing to save a 13-year-old boy from drowning, on Sunday afternoon.
The teenager died in a quarry dam in Putfontein, off Geldenhuys Road, at about 2pm.
The passer-by, who does not want to be named because he was unable to save the child’s life, said he was travelling through the area when a man filling a water tank told him that three children had run past him and had said that one of their friends did not emerge from the water in which they were swimming.The passer-by inspected the water and looked for the child, but could not see anything.
The three children later returned with a parent and identified the area in the water where their friend had gone missing.
The motorist took off his shirt and swam to the spot, feeling beneath the surface, where his hands brushed against those of the boy.
He said he got a fright and emerged from the dam, then went down again, to lift the boy from the water.
He swam with the body to the edge of the dam, where he administered CPR on the lifeless body
The child’s eyes and lips were grey and his resuscitation attempts were futile.
The passer-by believes the child was trapped underwater by weeds for about 10 minutes before his arrival.
The rescuer said he received no emergency response when he called the 10111 and 112 numbers and had to resort to flagging down a police vehicle after about 20 minutes.
ER24 paramedics declared the teenager dead on scene.
Local authorities were on scene for further investigations.
