Police divers and sea rescue teams are continuing search operations for two men who vanished in the surf zone at Strand Beach on Wednesday 2 September, after attempting to save a co-worker caught in a strong rip current.

According to an official statement from National Sea Rescue Institure (NSRI) Station 9 (Gordon’s Bay), the incident occurred near the Lourens River mouth, adjacent to the Helderberg Marine Protected Area, where a group of men from a local business were spending a day off together.

The alarm was first raised at 13:43 following eyewitness reports from “an NSRI Gordon’s Bay crewman’s family member, who works at a local coffee shop, of a drowning in progress”.

The initial swimmer got into difficulty in the water, prompting two of his colleagues, a 22-year-old man from Belhar and a 39-year-old man from Mfuleni, to rush into the water to help.

Photos: Rescue underway at Strand Beach

“His two colleagues were caught in rip currents while trying to assist their friend, and both men disappeared in the surf zone,” the NSRI reported.

The man who was initially in distress was brought safely to shore by an unidentified local surfer. Officials confirmed that “a local surfer, a good Samaritan, rescued the man,” who was then attended to by paramedics and “released requiring no further medical care”.

A massive multi-agency effort immediately mobilised, including NSRI rescue craft Zelda and Spirit of Surfski, the EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter, police dive units and drone teams, as well as the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service and Law Enforcement.

“Despite the extensive air, sea and shoreline search, including NSRI rescue craft searching in and beyond the surf zone, aerial search efforts… and police divers conducting free-dive search efforts in the surf zone, there remains no signs of the two missing men,” the NSRI said.

Divers from the Water Policing and Diving Services remain on scene as ongoing search efforts continue along the coastline.