STOEP CHAT

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15 June 2023

Tricky Rescue of Trapped Fisherman

Knysna fisherman Jerome Jacobs, lying on a stretcher where Skymed rescue helicopter had lowered him onto Noetzie beach, reached out and gripped Julie Gosling’s hand, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Thank you, thank you. I thought I was going to die on the rocks.”

He may well have. A rock he had been holding onto while climbing to his fishing spot had dislodged. He fell backwards into a shallow gully and the rock landed on top of him.

He was in a pickle. He had broken his ankle and was trapped under the rock. He knew when high de came, he could drown. And there was no cell phone recepon.

The coast east of Noetzie is rugged, with cliffs, jagged rocks and rough seas. Few people pass that way.

But luck was with Jerome last Saturday. A man with a rucksack, heading towards Noetzie, found him and managed to get the rock off him. Jerome asked him to go to Julie’s house and ask her to call an ambulance.

“Tell her it’s Jerome.”

The rucksack man told Noetzie’s self-appointed car guard, Lester Philander, who told Julie. She decided rather to phone Knysna’s Naonal Sea Rescue Instute (NSRI).

NSRI Staon 12 commander Jerome Simonis asked Julie to get Lester to try to locate the fishermen so they would know where to send help.

Meanwhile NSRI launched a rescue boat and alerted other search and rescue services.

“Lester was away a long me,” said Julie.

When he returned he said the fisherman was far across the rocks.

The NSRI boat team were unable to locate him from the sea.

“Jerome Simonis asked me to ask Lester to go back with a high viz jacket and wave to the boat crew. Lester didn’t hesitate. When he got there he made a fire so the NSRI boat crew could see the spot,” Julie said.

When they saw the smoke signal, three rescuers swam medical equipment and a floang stretcher to the “very rocky and barely accessible” shore.

They treated Jerome for injuries and hypothermia and carried him out of the danger zone of the incoming de.

NSRI asked Rheenendal pilot Greg Johnsson to assist. Greg flew to the site but found no suitable landing place so had to turn back. Meanwhile EMS paramedics and police search and rescue officers hiked over to Jerome.

Aempts were made to carry him back on the stretcher, about an hour’s hike away, but it was too treacherous in the dark. Two stalwart EMS paramedics opted to stay with him through the long, cold night while the rest returned to the beach.

Early on Sunday the Skymed chopper hoisted the injured fishermen off the rocks in a special stretcher and lowered him onto Noetzie beach, whipping up a cloud of sand. He was stabilized and then Skymed flew him to hospital.

“I am glad I phoned NSRI. They were amazing,” said Julie. Jerome was discharged on Monday, enormously grateful to the NSRI and the other rescue workers.

Aer thanking NSRI’s Jerome Simonis for being rescued, the fisherman added: “Dankie dat ek Knysna van bo af kan gesien het. Dis a moersa nice helicopter daai.”

Melanie Gosling