A hiker on the Otter Trail who went ahead of his companions was found drowned in the Bloukrans River. Lodewyk van Rensburg, commander of NSRI Oyster Bay station 36 in Plettenberg Bay, said the NSRI at Storms River and Oyster Bay, as well as SA National Parks Tsitsikamma rangers had been activated following reports that a hiker was missing on the Otter Trail at the Bloukrans River Mouth crossing.
The man, 32, was part of an 11-person hiking group from Johannesburg, who said they had last seen him around 1pm that day, when he had left the group and gone ahead.
NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said, “When the 10 hikers reached the Otter Trail Bloukrans River Mouth crossing, swollen from heavy rains, they could not locate the man and we believe that they were not comfortable to try to cross the swollen river.”
They started searching for the missing hiker and noticed his backpack floating on the river, adrift and caught among rocks in the direction of the river mouth.
“They suspected that he may have tried to cross the river and they raised the alar,” Lambinon said. They feared he had been swept down river or out to sea.
NSRI Storms River and NSRI Oyster Bay search teams joined SANParks Tsitsikamma rangers on the scene where an extensive search commenced.
The backpack was located near the river mouth where additional items, believed to have belonged to the man, and believed to have been from the same backpack, were found on the river and/or swept out of the river mouth.
The SA Police Service, Police Search and Rescue and NSRI Plettenberg Bay were alerted.
“Despite an extensive search, hampered by unfavourable weather, by the swollen river and by the barely accessible terrain, there remained no signs of the missing man by nightfall. The 10 hikers were accommodated at a cabin and we believe they have discontinued the hike,” Lambinon said.
The SA Police Services, Police Search and Rescue and SANParks Tsitsikamma rangers, assisted by NSRI Storms River, NSRI Oyster Bay, and NSRI Plettenberg Bay, continued in an ongoing sea and shoreline search from first light on Wednesday.
Duran de Villiers, a local private helicopter and drone pilot, volunteered his EC120 helicopter to assist in the search at the request of NSRI Plettenberg Bay. An LZ (landing zone) was prepared at the a gravel road near to the Bloukrans River Mouth.
“On arrival on the scene an aerial search along the shoreline and out to sea was conducted by the helicopter. Not finding any signs of the missing man Duran landed at the LZ where he then launched a drone (from the gravel road) and during the drone search the body of the man was located offshore of the Bloukrans River Mouth,” Lambinon said.
Duran, and an NSRI rescue swimmer, joined SANParks rangers at the river mouth, where Duran waded into the water and was able to secure the body of the man to the shoreline.
The man was declared deceased and his body was taken into the care of SA Police Service and Police Search and Rescue divers, and government Health Forensic Pathology Services.
Police had opened an inquest docket, Lambinon said.
“Despite this sad tragedy the services involved and the assistance of Duran’s aerial support are commended in assisting to bringing the grieving family closure,” Lambinon said. “The family of the deceased man are in the care of Police and SANParks.”
