Delta 1 Rescue Diving send out warning as peak drowning season approaches
Mr Lee said that with their type of work they are trained on obstacles that they may occur, such as illegal fishing nets, wires or steel pipes sticking out from under the water, however diving in contaminated sewerage water is the biggest challenge.
With spring that has arrived and heavy rains being predicted, Delta1 Rescue Diving is sending out a stern warning as the peak of drownings and recoveries is here.
Mr Andrie Lee, of Delta 1 Rescue Diving, said that many drownings occur during school holidays when parents leave children alone at home.
“Most of our recoveries are of children who have been playing in quarries and ponds,” said Mr Lee.
“Even after parents tell children not to go swimming at these places, the children will still go and most of the time it is without supervision. This is when accidents happen,” said Mr Lee.
He said it is important for parents to know of their children’s whereabouts and to educate them on the dangers of playing or swimming in these areas.
In most cases drown victims are caught in currents or get stuck on water plants.
Mr Lee said other recoveries made are of illegal fishermen and fishing accidents.
The challenges of recovering drowning victims include raw sewage running into dams, streams, quarries and ponds.
Recently Delta 1 Rescue Diving, Mpumalanga Inland Water Policing and Police K9 Search and Rescue Unit were called out to a suspected drowning scene at the Vaal River in Standerton.
At that time there were no eyewitnesses.
Diving was halted because of raw sewage that was running into the river which posed a health hazard to the divers.
A video of the sewage running into the dam can be viewed on the Delta 1 Rescue Diving Facebook page.
Mr Lee said that with their type of work, they are trained to deal with obstacles that they may occur, such as illegal fishing nets, wires or steel pipes sticking out from under the water, however diving in contaminated sewage-filled water is the biggest challenge.
“The problem is that we cannot enter water that is contaminated. Some contaminated water we do go into, but if it is raw sewage we can’t. We do not have equipment for this,” said Mr Lee.
He said in most cases they will have to wait for a body to surface, which can take anything from three to four days unless the body is stuck underwater.
Delta 1 Rescue Diving is a non-profitable organisation that purely rely on businesses and public funding.
Funding goes towards diving gear, transport, fuel for the vessels and accommodation when recoveries are outside the Teks area.
“We do not have enough manpower in the province. This is why Delta 1 Rescue Diving do what we do to assist Mpumalanga Inland Water Policing and Police K9 Search and Rescue Unit,” said Mr Lee.
Besides retrieving drowning victims, Delta 1 Rescue Diving also do search and rescue, search and recovery, missing persons, fire rescue, collapsed structures, high angling rescue, commercial diving, confined space rescue, trench rescue, equipment recoveries and much more.
The team was asked to assist in the recovery on September 7 of a cash in transit vehicle that was robbed just outside Bethal the day before.
It is said that the driver drove the vehicle into a farm dam when the robbers opened fire.
The suspects then bombed the vehicle inside the water. Both vehicle and assets were successfully recovered by the team.
If you would like to become a sponsor or contribute towards funding banking details are: Delta 1 Rescue Diving – NPC, ABSA Bank, Cheque account, 4094473495.
For more information, contact Mr Andries Lee on 072 335 4442 or Sgt Jaco Nagel on 079 891 5763.
If you would like to know more about Delta1 Rescue Diving visit their Facebook page or go to www.delta1rescue.co.za
