File
A search is underway for a seven-year-old child reported missing at Mdumbi Beach on the Eastern Cape's Wild Coast.
NSRI spokesperson, Craig Lambinon, said that the incident happened on Sunday at around lunchtime when four children, aged between three and 13, visited the beach with family members.
He said the children appeared to have been caught in a rip current during the outgoing tide.
“Mdumbi Backpackers volunteers, who were surfing in the area at the time, noticed a group of children in distress in the surf zone and they rescued three females from the surf zone, using their surfboards, but indications alerted them to a 4th person still missing in the surf zone,” he said.
Lambinon said NSRI Mdumbi, and Nyandeni municipal lifeguards joined the Mdumbi Backpackers volunteers in the search for the missing seven-year-old male child, conducting free dive search efforts while sea and shoreline search efforts continued.
“Despite the extensive sea and shoreline search there remains no signs of the missing seven- year-old male child.
“A female, age 13, was medically treated on the beach for non-fatal drowning symptoms and is recovering in hospital.
“The remaining two girls were not injured,” Lambinon said.
He said the search for the missing child is still continuing.
