M4 Tongaat River bridge assessment crew’s ferry boat goes AWOL

Three members of the crew tasked with assessments of the flood-damaged Tongaat River bridge were left stranded mid-stream on their makeshift raft on Wednesday when a stiff breeze pushed their small ferry boat upstream.

And with the river known to be home to a crocodile or two and one of the crew not able to swim, taking a dip to reach dry land was not an option.

Calling for a rescue mission was the next best thing.

Even Dylan Meyrick’s IPSS Medical Rescue got into the act.

Recounting the incident, site supervisor Vusi Mazinyo of Mukona Geotechnics told the Courier it was actually a comical situation.

“It was around 1pm when the wind picked up and pushed our little ferry boat about 500m upstream,” he said.

Trapped, they reached out to their supervisor, who in turn contacted the guest house they are staying at.

Meyrick said the guest house alerted them to the situation.

“By the way it was explained to us it sounded as though the guys had been washed out to sea,” he said.

But when they arrived at the bridge along the M4 the crew was all accounted for at around 5pm.

Rescue teams entered the water in their boat to ferry the men safely back to land and recover their boat.

Meyrick said the situation was very amusing, with even a fish jumping out of the water and landing in their boat on the way back to shore.

ALSO READ: M4 Tongaat River bridge assessments underway

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