VISITORS from Switzerland, currently touring South Africa on a road trip, proved their quick-thinking abilities when they rescued a man from drowning after he had fallen from Port Alfred’s Putt Bridge into the Kowie River on Thursday late afternoon.
The three visitors, Fumi Gruner, Fabio Amport and Aline Bangerter were walking across the Putt Bridge when they heard a woman, below them on the river bank, calling for help.
“She wasn’t hysterical but was calling quite quietly,” said Amport.
The three then walked down the side of the bridge to the riverbank where they saw a man floating in the water.
“He looked as if he were dead,” said Gruner. “His face was not just blue, but purple.”
However, on swimming out to the man, Amport realised he was able to stand and, while keeping the man’s head above water, managed to drag him to the riverbank where the man began breathing and was taken away by ambulance services.
More on this story in next week’s Talk of the Town.
