At Mauri Bay, 21st March, 2009 at 18h03 the NSRI and Metro Rescue were activated following reports of a man fallen approximately 10 metres on the BOS (Bouyge Offshore Services) 400 crane barge wreck at Mauri Bay, between Llandudno and Hout Bay.
NSRI Bakoven, NSRI Kommetjie, NSRI Hout Bay, the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter, Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services and WSAR (Wilderness Search and Rescue) were activated.
A Metro rescue vehicle was dispatched, NSRI Bakoven dispatched their rescue craft Spirit of Rotary – Table Bay, NSRI Kommetjie dispatched their rescue craft Spirit of Winelands, NSRI Hout Bay dispatched their rescue craft Albie Matthews and MTU Nadine Gordimer (MTU Nadine Gordimer was accompanied by two Metro Rescue medics), the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter and WSAR (Wilderness Search and Rescue) were dispatched.
On arrival on-scene NSRI Bakoven rescuers found 25 year old Craig Peters, from Kyalami Estate, Johannesburg, in the company of his two friends, Phillip Young and Matthew Penfold, from Tamboerskloof, and three local alleged scrap metal salvors (who had come down from the BOS 400 to assist the young men) on a broken off piece of the crane barge wreck between the main body of the wreck and the shore.
Johnny Albert, NSRI Bakoven duty coxswain, said that on their arrival NSRI rescuers Howard Bell, Mike Hopkins and Mark Ridley were transferred from the rescue craft onto the piece of the wreck where they stabilized and secured the patient.
Johnny said that the patient was found to be suffering from a possible lower back fracture, lacerations to his right foot and hypothermia sustained after falling 10 to 12 metres from an absail rope that had been rigged (some time ago) by the alleged scrap metal salvors who apparently use the rope as a transport route between the crane barge wreck and mainland.
Ian Klopper, NSRI Kommetjie paramedic and station commander arrived on-scene to provide advanced life support to the patient and to assist to coordinate the evacuation of the patient.
The decision was taken to airlift the patient but with light fading fast it was decided that although airlifting the patient was the safest option there could only be one attempt at a helicopter airlift before other options on evacuating the patient would have to be investigated.
WSAR’s high-angle rescue technicion, Kevin Tromp, was hoisted onto the wreck from the helicopter and the patient was secured into a US Coast Guard specialized hoisting stretcher (provided by NSRI Hout Bay) and the patient and Kevin Tromp were static line hoisted (short hauled), with the exceptional flying skill of pilot Iefan Blake, to NSRI Hout Bay’s rescue base where they were met by a Metro Hout Bay volunteer EMS ambulance and the patient was transported to Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic in a stable but serious condition.
The three men told the NSRI that while hiking between Llandudno and Hout Bay they had come across the rope (rigged between the mainland and the wreck) and had decided to use the rope to get across to the wreck to explore but that Craig, who went first, had fallen when the rope snapped on the mainland side while he was about half way across.
The other two men swam across to him and had to pull him out of the water after Craig had slipped off the piece of wreck into the wafter after first falling onto the piece of wreck.
The NSRI wish to warn the public that the BOS 400 crane barge wreck, at Mauri Bay, between Llandudno and Hout Bay, which has been condemned, poses a life threatening risk to anyone who boards the wreck.
