Well-known seine netter dies
He was a regular among locals during the netting of the Greatest Shoal on Earth.
Legendary seine netter Goolam Fareed Essack (73) died after his fishing vessel capsized at Umgababa main beach on Tuesday morning this week.
Essack was the skipper at the time and believed to be with three crew members to net sardines.
He regularly updated the Herald on the whereabouts of the Greatest Shoal on Earth.
The Herald had contacted him last Saturday while he was in Margate. At the time, he had predicted the sardines arriving on Sunday, and they did.
After the incident, he was one of the three men who were rescued. It is suspected that he had suffered a medical condition on the beach.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), paramedics, eThekwini lifeguards, police medics and the NSRI lifeguard conducted extensive CPR efforts on the skipper.
After all efforts to resuscitate him were exhausted, sadly, he was declared deceased.
A search continued for the missing man. A private aircraft and a police helicopter assisted and conducted an aerial search while police, NSRI, emergency services and eThekwini lifeguards conducted shoreline search efforts.
eThekwini lifeguards launched surf rescue craft and conducted extensive search efforts for the missing man in and beyond the surf zone.
Despite an extensive air, sea and shoreline search, there were no signs of the missing man.
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