CAPE TOWN — Five kayakers lost in dense fog off Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard were safely rescued on Tuesday, South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.
Rescue crews located the five casualty kayakers about 1.3 nautical miles offshore of Clifton, near Saunders Rocks in Bantry Bay, during a search carried out in dense fog, according to the NSRI. They were brought aboard the rescue craft and treated for mild hypothermia, and their kayaks were recovered.
The kayakers were taken to the Oceana Power Boat Club, where they required no further assistance, and rescuers gave them a lift back to their vehicles at Three Anchor Bay. All were in good spirits, the NSRI said.
The rescue involved a local tourist kayak company, Atlantic Adventures, whose members had postponed their own planned launches that day because of the fog and volunteered to help. Their safety support craft reached three other kayakers offshore of Granger Bay and accompanied them safely ashore. Those three, the NSRI said, were not the kayakers who had raised the alarm.
Dense fog had settled over the Atlantic Seaboard, and conditions separated groups of paddlers at sea, according to the rescue service.
The NSRI appealed to paddlers launching in groups to download and use its SafeTRX smartphone safety app, which helps rescue services locate people at sea when weather or conditions split a group apart.
No serious injuries were reported in the incident.
