The deceased had problems during the swim portion of the marathon. Image: IRONMAN South Africa Facebook page
A resident of George, 62-year-old Leon Stanvliet died on Sunday while participating in the Ironman African Championship in Port Elizabeth.
This was confirmed this evening by police spokesperson Col. Priscilla Naidu. Naidu told the George Herald that another participant, 57-year-old Andre Trichardt from Durban, had also died.
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According to Naidu, it appeared that Stanvliet had problems while in the water. At this stage, it is not known exactly what happened. Stanvliet was taken to St. George’s hospital, where he later passed away.
About 10 minutes, later paramedics noticed that Trichardt was also in trouble while in the water. He was taken out of the water and taken to the same hospital where he also died later.
It was also confirmed on the organisers’ Facebook page.
Naidu said post-mortems will be done to determine cause of death.
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