Charl Nieuwoudt, Deon Alberts and Egnall Brown
TRIO SAVED FROM RAGING RIVER

15 July 2009. The Breede River was in full flood when a family of five travelling by car misjudged the depth of the water and was swept off a bridge into the freezing current. Worcester and Overberg Fire Stations were called out to the scene.

On arrival, the scene was dark and misty and the water was what is called ‘brown water’. Brown water is floodwater that poses the highest risk in a rescue operation because of bad visibility, the speed of the current and the fact that it is filled with debris that could cause damage to anything or anyone in it.

It was immediately clear that they would need a Swift Water Support team on the scene. It was then that Intermediate Life Support medics Egnall Brown and Charl Nieuwoudt and Fire Fighter Deon Alberts, all three Metro Water Rescue Technicians from Overberg Fire and Rescue and Provincial Ambulance Services Western Cape, were called in to help. On arrival, they were filled in that a man, woman and small child were clinging to trees in the water. Time was running out. They needed to act fast as the family had been in the freezing water too long.

The man seemed to be losing his grip. He was some distance away, clinging to a stationary tree. The woman and the child were frantically holding on to each other, clinging to a different tree in the current.

Egnall, Charl and Deon were chosen to enter the water, as they were the strongest swimmers on the scene. It was a high-risk situation for the swimmers – a job that a helicopter should have done, but the weather conditions did not allow for it, and the patients had already spent too much time in the freezing water.

The three swimmers were all attached with a rope system to teams on the riverbank. Charl jumped into the freezing current and set off to rescue the man. Egnall and Deon made their way to the woman and child. Battling the raging torrent, they finally reached the victims. Deon swam out with the child, while Egnall stayed with the woman to help support her and make sure she didn’t lose her grip. Deon then swam back to assist Egnall in bringing the woman to safety.

Charl, who had set out to rescue the man, had to swim upstream against the current to reach him. After reaching the man, Charl grabbed onto him and started the arduous journey back. He had to submerse himself several times to keep the man afloat. Once on dry land, paramedics quickly rushed over to assist the three patients and started treatment for hypothermia.

Sadly, at the time of the incident, the team was aware that there were two other passengers in the car but were unable to locate them. Their bodies were found at a later stage.

Egnall, Charl and Deon are full of praise for all the EMS staff that helped with the rope systems on land, as they played an important role in the rescue operation..

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