The 93-year-old woman who died shortly after a huge wave crashed over her and others in the parking area at Leentjiesklip in Wilderness, on Saturday, has been identified as Jo Hartman.

Despite immense efforts from bystanders and medical personnel to save her, Hartman was declared dead on arrival at the hospital shortly after the incident.

Another man sustained serious injuries. He was also taken to hospital.

Hartman was a retired mathematics teacher from Bloemfontein. She was in Wilderness with her daughter Ronell Lindemann to look at the ocean when they were hit by the wave.

Paul Louw, Hartman’s son and town planner at Hessequa Municipality, said the incident still feels unreal.

“It is all still very unreal and happened so quickly. The one moment she was there and the next she was gone,” Louw said.

The incident occurred amid extreme sea conditions and massive waves wreaking havoc across the Garden Route coastline and other parts of the Western Cape.

Beaches in the George area remain closed to the public at this stage.

Another fatality

Meanwhile, Algoa FM reports that the body of a 68-year-old man was washed ashore in Aston Bay, Jeffreys Bay, yesterday.

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu told the publication that they believe the man drowned as a result of Saturday’s freak waves that battered the coastline.

“She says his body was discovered at the Seekoei River Causeway between Paradise Valley and Aston Bay,” their article states.