Durban beaches
Zainul Dawood|Published
A Durban man who saved someone from drowning at Brighton Beach in Durban chose to remain humble and dismissed any hero status attached to his name.
On Saturday, a bystander captured the heroics of Marvin Phillips in a 5-minute video. The video clip shows Phillips running on the beach sand and entering the water in his swimming shorts. After a few seconds, the video pans out to show a man in the water who appears to be in difficulty. As Phillips gets closer, the man appeared to be unresponsive and floating in the water.
Phillips tactically brought the man closer to the shoreline and past some rocks and out of the water. Details of who transported the man to hospital and what happened thereafter have not yet emerged. Phillips said he has been inundated with calls from the public and media to meet with him. Phillips said when he set off into the water, he did not do so for getting any recognition.
“I did not do it for recognition; when you save a person's life, you don't save the person's life for getting stars,” he said.
Brighton Beach rescue
Phillips said he has not had the chance to speak with the person whom he had saved
Curwyn Eaton, his cousin, described Phillips as a hero. Eaton posted on Facebook:
“I always knew my cousin could dance, but this has to be your best sequence. What a selfless act of bravery swimming in so deep, saving a drowning man and then still resuscitating him back to life, all while risking your own life for another without hesitation, just Wow!! I'm so proud of you; the humanity you showed yesterday is so respectable. Well done, Cuzz! You are my Hero!”
Beach safety
Dhaya Sewduth, a board member of Lifesaving South Africa, saluted the bravery of Phillips. Sewduth said they were trying to get more details on the incident. He said Lifesaving SA continuously puts out alerts and advisories about water safety. The most important warning was to swim where and when lifeguards are on duty. He said on beaches, this was distinguished by flags, which are regarded as the safety zone.
“Do not put yourself at risk. The victim was lucky he had a bystander who put his life on the line and brought him to shore. If nobody was there, nobody competent enough, you could have had another tragedy," he said.
"Lifeguards assess the safety zone; that is why they put up the flag. The ocean is a dynamic environment. Swim in the safety zone. It changes from hour to hour. In the last two or three years in the December period, we did not have a drowning during duty hours; they managed the crowds,” he added.
Other drowning incidents
In separate drowning incidents, a man died after entering dangerous rip currents to rescue his son and another teenager at Leentjiesklip Beach in Wilderness on Saturday, October 24. The National Sea Rescue Institute’s Wilderness Station commander Jonathan Britton said two men, both fathers, had entered the water after the teenagers were caught in the rip currents.
“The families, who are friends, comprise a local man and his teenage son, and a German man and his teenage son,” he explained.
The NSRI reported that a 35-year-old man from Witbank, Mpumalanga, drowned near Salmon Bay in Ballito on Saturday, October 24. The NSRI said the man was swimming in an area without lifeguards when he got into difficulty.
zainul.dawood@iol.co.za
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