Five people who were hanging on to life in a sinking boat south off Bird Island a month ago can thank the alertness of a young 43 Air School instructor and his trainee pilot for being rescued from choppy seas.
Luri Rengane and his trainee pilot – a student from India – were heading towards Gqeberha on a training flight a month ago when they received a distress call to assist in the search for the boat.
Rengane who was feted at an NSRI appreciation evening at PA River & Ski Boat Club last Wednesday, to honour the 55th anniversary of the founding of Port Alfred’s Station 11, said it was a great feeling to have been awarded recognition for their efforts.
“In fact it’s an amazing feeling just knowing our efforts are helping save lives,” Rengane told Talk of the Town.
Recalling the circumstances, Rengane said it was a coincidence that he and his student were flying in the vicinity when the SOS call for help was received.
“I received a call from another of my students at 43 Air School; as we were flying he called me to ask if we could help find some people in a sinking boat. I said to him ‘Okay, give me the details’. He said the boat was currently sinking south of Bird Island and we’d like to have your help. I said, ‘Of course definitely’.”
Rengane said he then turned to his student and I asked him if it was okay. “It was his lesson and asked him if we could turn around to try to find the boat.”
“He said ‘yes’ … so we immediately jumped into action and then at the same time contacted Gqeberha (Dawid Stuurman Intternational) approach. “And they said, ‘NSRI has contacted us and asked if we could help them’ … and we said yes,” said Rengane.
From there they re-directed their flight plan to Bird Island veering off not too far from their location. “We spent an hour-and-a-half flying in a circular pattern straining our eyes to check if we could see anything. At that stage we had enough fuel … “, he said.
Rengane said it was very difficult trying to pick out an object from high up in a choppy sea below.
“The sea is so vast that looking for a boat, is not easy at all … in fact, it was incredibly difficult. Conditions weren’t ideal, the sea was choppy and there were a lot of waves. We were looking towards the south of the island and spent the majority of the time circling in that area.”
Rengane said as they tried to change their search vantage point towards the east things changed for the better.
“We decided then and there to try a search pattern somewhere else … and just as I instructed the pilot to turn I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. It was an odd-looking shape and I said to the trainee pilot, “Let’s check there because I saw something adrift and as we got there we realised it was the listing boat.
“We were both filled with joy and extremely relieved and so excited. You get to a point that the longer you conduct your search you realise you don’t have fuel to last forever, and if you run out of fuel, you are going to have to abandon the search.”
Rengane said they flew in a circular pattern over the area and got the attention of a MSC ship nearby. “We flew towards them and then alerted them about the sinking boat and flew back once confirmation of further assistance to come after relaying info to NSRI.”
Rengane said his Indian student was on his second-last flight at the time having now finished his course and has returned to India.
Rengane who hails from Centurion, Pretoria started his pilot training at 43 Air School in 2019 and finished his studies in 2021 before returning two years ago as a training instructor.
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This article was first published in Talk of the Town, July 17, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
