Blessing Shezi (32), one of the four men rescued in the dramatic Grootdraai Dam incident, has been praised for his calmness during the crisis.

South Coast Herald reports that Shezi, who is from Amandawe (Ward 14) in Scottburgh on the KZN South Coast, had been in Standerton visiting family during the festive season.

The other three men are reportedly from Kinross in Mpumalanga, Potchefstroom and Standerton.

The incident took place at Grootdraai Dam in Standerton, Mpumalanga, on Monday.

“It was a very traumatic event for us all,” he said. “I am doing okay now and just taking it day by day. This was just a part of life.”

He has some history in lifesaving in Scottburgh, having received training in the Scottburgh nipper programme.

The four men were rescued uninjured from the edge of a dam wall spillway, with their escape and rescue described by some as nothing short of miraculous.

According to reports, Shezi kept his cool in the crisis, playing a key role in helping his friends remain calm despite the extreme danger of the situation, urging the group to stay together and not leave the boat as the current was very strong.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NRSI) Witbank and Gauteng, SAPS and rescue services were all praised for the way they handled the risky rescue, with the boat so precariously balanced on the edge, inches away from a 40m drop into the Vaal River.

NRSI spokesman Craig Lambinon said the men may have experienced mechanical failure to their ski-boat.

They had drifted to the edge of the dam wall – at the spillway – with the fast-flowing water threatening to wash them and the boat over the wall.

The rescue was aided in a huge way by the quick and clear thinking of an official of the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Lambinon explained that the opening of the three sluice gates at the spillway automatically created a vacuum under the boat, alleviating the overflow pressure, where the weir overflow, in relation to the opened bottom slots, prevented the boat from being swept over the edge – this despite trapping the boat in that precarious position on the edge of the dam wall in heavy flowing water.

This was unknown to NSRI at the time. Lambinon later described it as a remarkable understanding of the situation.

The four men were discovered at around 18:00 and got stuck possibly an hour or so earlier. They were finally taken out of the water at 22:09.

The boat was recovered the next day, with no damage to it.

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