Spearfishing outing turns tragic
The fish seemed more important to them than Johan's life.
Well-known and loved Toti resident and owner of Elegant Pools in Warner Beach Johan Dempers (54), died of an apparent heart attack after helping a friend who had speared a marlin off Scottburgh coast on Sunday, 3 May.
First responders to the scene are up in arms over the friend, who they say was more interested in his catch than helping Johan.
According to reports, Johan had entered the water from a rubber duck to help the friend land the catch when he fell into distress.
He was hauled on board, where he collapsed.
“We heard an SOS radioed,” said Craig Waller, who was on the first boat on the scene to help.
“We were fishing in the Natal Interzonal Fishing Competition, off the coast of Pennington.”
Rob Gemmell, skipper of the boat they were on ‘Half a Dozen’, rushed to the scene.
“We didn’t even pull in our lines. The call said they suspected a heart attack. When we got there we saw one guy holding Johan, another guy holding the marlin and a third pulling in the bouys.
We yelled at the guy to get rid of the marlin, as helping Johan was more important, but he would not release it. We repeatedly told him to get rid of it, but he would not listen.”
One of Craig’s fishing mates, Bruce Jackson jumped into the water and pulled himself into the boat Johan was on, and asked for a knife to cut his wetsuit. No CPR was being done on Johan at this stage.
“We managed to pull our boat in closer and I jumped into their boat. We cut his wetsuit and I started CPR.
Jack Bath was in communication with other boats and people on land to get assistance for Johan.
Another dive boat with oxygen on board stopped to assist, but still this guy held on to the marlin. When another boat arrived, he gave the fish to them.”
Johan was moved to a dive boat which took him to shore, where paramedics were ready, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
“These guys didn’t even follow the dive boat to the beach. They were more interested in following the boat to retrieve their catch.
The fish seemed more important to them than Johan’s life. They say they did CPR on Johan, but from our first sight of their boat, nothing was being done. We tried our best to save him.”
The Dempers family thank everyone and the paramedics who helped Johan.
