Cape Town - The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is hoping to expand its beach safety cameras on beaches in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Beaches attract lots of people and summertime sees beaches across the coastline of South Africa packed to capacity.
However, the NSRI said because of the size of many beaches and the risks associated with them, including rip currents, it is important to have layers of safety in addition to lifeguards.
NSRI’s drowning prevention manager, Andrew Ingram, said part of his department’s mandate at the NSRI is to look at innovative ways to save the lives of South African water users.
Earlier this year, Ingram said, the beach safety camera installed at Strand Beach in the Western Cape managed to spot a young boy in danger in the surf.
“Earlier this year, one of the beach cameras at Strand Beach helped to save a life of a young boy, Matthew, 10, who was spotted by our drowning prevention camera operator.
“He was pulled away from the beach by a rip current and was struggling to stay afloat. Our camera operator spotted him, and we immediately alerted the local lifeguards to the emergency,” Ingram said.
The family of the young boy said they will forever be grateful to the person monitoring the screens who was able to spot their son in trouble.
The camera operator, Lezhae Snyders, who was seated behind the screen at the NSRI’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) said it was a normal day.
“This all changed while I was doing my regular monitoring and I saw that someone was in trouble. I zoomed in to confirm. I quickly alerted the lifeguards who had not yet started their day shift,” she explained.
Young Matthew has since received survival swimming lessons from the NSRI.
To date, the NSRI has beach cameras that have been placed strategically at beaches that are known to have dangerous rip currents.
The beaches with dangerous rip currents in the Western Cape include Strand Beach, Blouberg Beach, Herolds Bay in along the Garden Route and Buffel’s Bay.
“The aim is to expand this project to other areas. We are aiming to install more cameras in the Western Cape and KZN by the end of this year,” Ingram said.
However, the organisation said it needs volunteers to man the cameras especially since its rescue volunteers already have so much on their plate.
Ingram said having volunteers who could assist by monitoring the beach safety cameras from the safety of their living rooms and alert them to any dangers enables the NSRI crew members to save more lives.
“We will provide training to these volunteers on how to operate the cameras. Our Emergency Operations Centre is always ready to jump in and help should a volunteer need some guidance.
“In Herolds Bay, we have a pool of volunteers who work closely with the first responders in that area,” Ingram added.
* Volunteers who wish to be part of the beach camera monitoring team can email [email protected]
IOL