Five people drowned in two separate incidents over the weekend, with two teenagers losing their lives at a Mossel Bay beach and three others during a baptising ceremony in Mpumalanga.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Mossel Bay duty crew were activated at approximately 16:00 on Saturday, 25 April, following reports of a drowning in progress at De Bakke Beach.

An 18-year-old local woman and a 15-year-old boy, believed to be part of a group of five teenagers, got into difficulty in the water after being caught in strong rip currents.

A Good Samaritan using a bodyboard attempted to rescue the pair. He managed to reach the unresponsive woman and bring her onto his board. NSRI crews recovered her and brought her ashore, where CPR was initiated.

Despite extensive resuscitation efforts, she was declared dead at the scene.

NSRI Mossel Bay duty coxswain Andre Fraser said rescue swimmers responded immediately, while additional crew launched the rescue craft St Blaise Rescuer from Station 15.

Emergency services, including the South African Police Service (SAPS), ambulance services and Mossel Bay Fire & Rescue, were also on scene.

A large-scale search operation was launched for the missing boy, involving NSRI rescue swimmers and rescue craft, police divers from the Western Province Diving Services, a thermal drone, private drones and air, sea and shoreline search teams.

The search continued into Saturday night without success.

On Sunday morning, police divers recovered a body believed to be that of the missing teenager. Formal identification is underway by Government Health Forensic Pathology Services.

The identities of the two teenagers have not been publicly released. Police have opened an inquest docket.

In a separate incident, three bodies were retrieved from the Wellas River in eMbalenhle near Secunda. The victims are believed to have drowned during a baptising ceremony in the river.

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