THE SAPS K9 unit and Port Alfred NSRI came to the rescue of fisherman Peter Botes when he fell down a cliff while fishing off the rocks near the Fish River mouth recently.
The NSRI responded in their sea rescue vehicle and a provincial government ambulance, EMS rescue squad and their EMS Aeromed helicopter also responded.
The NSRI and emergency services gained access to the beach through the Fish River Sun Hotel’s property, hiking through barely accessible dense bush and over sand dunes to reach the 49-year-old fisherman.
The police K9 unit got to Botes first, finding him at the bottom of a 6m cliff.
NSRI medics treated Botes, who is from East London, for a fractured right leg (tibia and fibula). When the paramedics arrived they administered pain medication before Botes was secured into a scoop stretcher and extricated from the cliff to the helicopter which had landed on the beach.
Botes was airlifted to hospital by the helicopter in a stable but serious condition. He was expected to make a full recovery.
