By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The three people who drowned, and three who are still missing, after getting into difficulty in the sea at Pennington Beach, on the KZN South Coast, on New Year’s Day, were swimming after lifeguards had ended their patrol, Umdoni Local Municipality said on Tuesday, as rescue teams continued searching for the three missing men.
“Duty patrol concluded at 6pm, after which lifeguards left the beach,” Umdoni Municipality Communications Manager Sphelele Cele told Inside Metros.
According to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), the alarm was raised in the early evening when multiple people were caught in rip currents near the tidal pool.
“The Umdoni Law Enforcement personnel on site were informed of a drowning incident where lifeguards that were already off duty attended to this emergency and successfully rescued one female, [however], six people sadly drowned. To date, three bodies have been recovered and three remain missing,” said Cele.
The NSRI said two men aged 21 and an 18-year-old woman had been confirmed dead, while the three men, all believed to be 21, remained missing. An 18-year-old woman was rescued uninjured, the NSRI said.
The municipality said a total of five lifeguards were on duty during operating hours — four at the designated bathing area and one at the tidal pool.
That number met national standards, according to the municipality, which require at least four lifeguards on duty, with a minimum of three holding a lifeguarding certificate.
The municipality urged residents to heed safety signage and avoid swimming outside patrol times. Those who swam after hours did so at their own personal risk, it said.
Drownings are a persistent public-safety challenge in the country.
According to the NSRI, about 1,484 drownings occur nationally every year, with children under 14 accounting for roughly 29% of fatalities.
KwaZulu-Natal is a particular hotspot because of its long coastline, warm weather and high levels of recreational water use.
In its integrated annual report, the NSRI recorded KZN as the single biggest contributor to fatal drownings (24%) in the 2022/23 reporting year, and put the national total for that year at 1,954 fatal drownings.
Lifesaving South Africa has previously warned that holiday-period drownings often rise at non-designated swimming areas and after duty hours, reporting that KwaZulu-Natal led the country in late-November drownings in 2024, and remained among the worst affected through December into early January.
Ahead of the 2025 festive season, the NSRI said its crews had responded to 13 “drownings in progress” in the preceding three weeks, seven of them fatal, and said combined efforts by rescuers and the public saved 25 lives in that period.
The NSRI has urged beachgoers to take extra care during spring tides, which can strengthen rip currents and make conditions more unpredictable.
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