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DASSIESHOEK CALL OUT: 28 DECEMBER 1999
" I received a pager call from Dirk De Koker at 1815B. He had just
received a call from a Mr. Gary Prinsloo at the Dassieshoek hut that three
hikers were overdue on the Dassieshoek trail. I was to proceed to the
ambulance station to meet Dirk.
On arrival at the ambulance station at 1840B, Dirk told me to proceed to the
hut. He and Cedric Lekay would follow. I also informed Zero 2 of the
call.
We arrived at the hut at 1855 and were met by Johan De Wit of the
municipality who had just arrived at the hut with the three missing men. He
had found them on the trail and brought them down by bakkie at 1850B. Dirk
then checked their general health. Their names were Mr. Wayne
Raubenheimer, Mr. Daniel Raubenheimer and Mr. Shane Fisher. Mr. Daniel
Raubenheimer had very bad cramps in his legs. All three were first-time
hikers. The temperature was 38 Deg C with no water on the trail.
Metro Worcester and Cape Town were informed that the missing persons had
been found and they could stand down.
We all stood down at 1933B. "
Graham Macmillan, D34
I received a page alert from Robertson Ambulance Base at 1645B to proceed to the ambulance base and pick up the keys for the Dassieshoek Trail gates. There had been a call out for a hiker who had fallen down a section of the downward side of the Arangieskop trail. I was to meet Dirk De Koker at the Dassieshoek overnight hut for further briefing. Just prior to my arrival at 1725B, I was informed that the patient had just entered the hut! On
arrival I was met by Dirk De Koker, and introduced to the patient and her
mother. The patient was a 17 year old girl, Charlene Adriannse, who had fallen
approximately 4km from the summit of Arangieskop. The height of the fall was
approximately 8 Meters. She had head, right shoulder, right shoulder blade,
and right knee injuries. We decided the best course of action would be to
transport her to Robertson Hospital for further examination by a Doctor. The
patient was delivered to Robertson hospital at 1755B and awaited the arrival
of the duty doctor. We stood down at 1830B. Graham Macmillan, D34
MONTAGUE TRUCK ACCIDENT ON BOY RETIEF BRIDGE: 20 DECEMBER 1999
My
METRO pager went off at 0450B, “contact Dirk De Koker”. I spoke to
Dirk's wife Lillian and was told that there was a MVA in Montague and Dirk
was en route.
En
route, I made contact with Dirk and was told that there was a long distance
haul truck that had crashed on the Boy Retief Bridge, and that both the
driver and passenger were alive but trapped in the wreckage.
On
the scene at 0520B we found members of SAPS, Metro, Worcester Fire Dept and
various traffic departments (Provincial and Municipal). The truck was a 26
wheeler carrying a cargo of Soya Flour. According to Capt. Pat Lee of the
Ashton police, due to excessive speed, the driver had lost control and had
come to a stop half on and half off the bridge. The driver was trapped in
the cab section, while his partner was trapped in the sleeping section
hanging upside down in the bed, about 15 meters above the river.
Dirk
set about extricating the driver at 0530B using the Robertson Ambulance
Jaws-of-Life. He managed to free the man at 0630B and he was sent off to
Montague hospital. The co-driver was still trapped upside down but his
injuries were such that he had cut-off the blood supply to his lower body.
Medic 2 from METRO called me on the radio to find out the condition of the
patients and said he was on his way.
At
approximately 0655B Medic 2 arrived on the scene. After doing an initial
assessment of the still trapped patient, he decided to call in a helicopter
for the patient transfer to hospital as the Crush Syndrome was becoming
worse the longer the trapped man was upside down. Rescue 6 arrived at 0705B
and Rescue 1 arrived at 0710B
The
patient was finally released at 0900B and brought onto the bridge to await
the chopper evacuation. The chopper arrived at 0915B. Once the patient was
stabilized and ready for airlift, he was secured in the chopper and they
departed the scene at 1000B bound for Medi - Clinic Worcester.
Dirk
De Koker departed at 1115B for the Ambulance base and I departed at 1150B
for home.
Graham
Macmillan, D34
TIME DETAIL
21:50 RECEIVED PAGE TO CALL 02
21:51 Phoned 02 to find that MCSA HH section needed transport to the staging point above Suicide gorge. I agreed and phoned Mike 73 Spoke to Mellissa who told me that I should meet them at Strand Base ASAP. When I asked for Mike I was told that he had left "already, I assumed to Strand Base. I left at 22:15 and got to Strand " Base to find only two MCSA members instead of four agreed to. I loaded up additional Metro kit and food for the Metro team. On seeing the amount of food I was told it was for thirteen people. M73 and M74 had left by car earlier and had left the others without comms at Strand Base. I contacted M73 and was told to come to Nuweberg. 22:32 Left Strand Base for Nuweberg + 2x MCSA members + kit 23:15 Arrived at Nuweberg. It was clear that when I arrived that M73 had already had words with Dr Robertson who was already there. It was decided to open the operations room at Zero 3 and set up base. The understanding up to this point was that I would take M73 + 2 MCSA to the staging point so that they could get in to the gorge to the large group already with the patient.
23:40 It was only after we had left that I was told
that we were not going to the staging point but down to Versoek Farm as
the party had moved the patient to the escape route in an effort to get
him out.
23:45 We drove down to Versoek farm and up as close
as we could get to end of the escape route.
00:15 M73 + 2 left vehicle (callsign Rescue 1) and
agreed to relay messages to 03 if he could not get through. Both
channel 1& 2 serviceable. Comms variable as team move into
mountains. At this stage we had no main rescue party.
01:35 Called in to 03 to find that teams had met up
and would sleep over and wait for a chopper in the morning.
Trevor Wyborn, D78
A telephonic call was received from MCSA HH indicating that a
possible fetch and carry was developing in an area close to the mountain hut,
upper Lourensford .
A page was put out and thanks to D's 58 15 61 68 for
replying but fortunately were not needed.
It was finally determined that a female had fallen and broken her ankle and
needed to be carried out on a stretcher. D78 and myself together with D21 as
co-driver duly transported four members of MCSA-HH plus two Metro medics with
a stretcher to the scene. A pretty straightforward evacuation however
was not to be, as the fynbos in the area was extremely dense and well over
head height. However, once the causality was in my L/R she had a very
comfortable trip direct to the hospital..
Dave Watling, D82
" I received a phone call at 2200B on Sunday night by the
Robertson Municipality, Mrs. Human, to contact Dirk De Koker urgently. Cor
van Waggeningin, from the Robertson Municipality was not contactable at all.
Dirk then told me that he had received a phone call at 2145B from Lady
Constable Kleintjies of the Robertson Police Station, informing him of the
call they had received at 2000B from a man on a cellphone, reporting two
people missing on the mountain. She did not know where or which trail they
were on as the cell phone comms were very bad. Dirk requested the phone
number of the caller to get more info.
The person who placed the call was a Mr Steven Louw of the Strand, as
he had a cellphone with him, number 083 631 7692. They were at the
Arangieskop Overnight Hut and two of their party were missing. Place last
seen was 2.5 Km west of the hut, at 1515B that day on the up track of the
Arangieskop trail. The missing persons were Victor Mezweni, 13 years
old and Mario Hendricks, an adult of between 30 - 35 years old. I was
requested to meet Dirk at the ambulance station ASAP. I informed Zero 2 of
my movements. There I contacted Roy van Schoor of the Off-Road Rescue Unit
to help in the planning stages.
On arrival at the station around 2220B, Dirk had already informed Dr Wayne
Smith of METRO, Cape Town, re: the search. Dr Smith was quite happy to let
Dirk take charge and co-ordinate the search. Dirk also alerted and
called-out a team from Worcester, Mr John Davids, Mr Tops and Mr Ebrahim,
who arrived at the ambulance station at 2338B. Dirk had already alerted the
Montague Police, Inspector Datsun, who were at that stage unaware of the
call-out. They were requested to contact Mr Neil Burger and request
his permission to enter his lands and would he be prepared to take us up in his
bakkie? The police told Dirk that they did not have any personnel available
at that time to help with the search, but the arrangements had been made.
On the way to the farm, we stopped at the Montague Police station and drew
one of the police portable radios that I would use for communication between
Robertson Police and Montague Police. This proved very useful later on.
On arrival at the farm, 0050B, Mr Burger loaded us all into his bakkie and
we arrived at the summit some 25 minutes later at 0115B. The weather was now
becoming bitterly cold, very dense fog and driving rain.
We were met by Mr Steven Louw, we asked more questions relating to the two
persons. We established that this was their first hike. Victor was not
experienced at hiking, and had no abnormal medical conditions. Mario, on the
other hand, was a fit diver ( Pearlemoen and Crayfish ) no abnormal
medical conditions, and had a bottle of whisky with him ( could have been a
potential problem if he had of drunk it ) and was wearing an ambulanceman's
back over jacket with a red reflective stripe at the hemline. Both had warm
clothing, water, a gas cooker, food and sleeping bags. Armed with this
information, the team made ready to brave the elements and set out to search
the beacon area and then the down route, reasoning that the people must have
missed the hut in the fog. They set off at 0200B.
The teams went as far as the metal stair on the down route and found
nothing, they started loosing their way when the fog reduced visibility to 2
meters. They then traversed along the top plateau to the up ( west ) route
and went down till Place Last Seen, but visibility now was so bad they
requested that I stand at a high point on the plateau and shine my torches
in the air to aid their navigation. We all arrived back at the hut at 0400B.
Still no sign of the missing persons.
At 0600B, on the 15 November 1999, we resumed the search. I sent the teams down
the up route and contacted Dr Cleeve Robertson of METRO, Dr Wayne Smith
of METRO and Roy Van Schoor of the Off - Road Rescue Unit. My cellphone
battery was nearing it's charge end and this is where the police radio
really came to the rescue. I contacted METRO and asked them to relay both
Doctor's calls through Montague Police Station. This worked flawlessly. I
had requested four guys from Vrolikheid Nature Reserve, Cape Nature
Conservation, to be placed on standby and be ready to walk the down route in
reverse.The Robertson police were requested to send a vehicle to the
Dassieshoek overnight hut to check and see if the missing persons had not
arrived at the hut, and Dr Robertson was busy assembling a 10 man MCSA team
to fly up from Cape Town to aid the ground searchers.
At 0840B, I received a call from the Montague Police that Captain Rall of
the Robertson Police had received a call from the Dassieshoek Hut that the
missing persons had just turned up and appeared to be in good health and
were unaware of the search going on for them. I then proceeded to stand down
all persons and organisations that were either searching or on standby,
METRO, MCSA, SAPS, CNC, ORU.
We transported the people back to Dassieshoek Hut and arrived there at about
Noon. We debriefed the missing persons. Mario informed us that they had
missed the rest of the hiking party by about 10 - 15 meters when the
fog had become very dense, so they continued onto the down trail to look for
somewhere dry and sheltered to spend the night. They hiked for a
considerable time before finding a good resting place and after having a
good hearty cooked meal, he and Victor had gone to sleep. They had stuck to
the path, and at first light proceeded down the rest of the trail to
Dassieshoek Hut. They were never in any real danger, had kept their wits and
did not move off the trail. In the morning they left a trail of sweet
wrappers every 500 meters or so on trees that were easily followed by the
search party. The search party was about to radio in this find when they
received the call that the missing persons had been found.
This then resulted in a successful search with all well and in good
health and spirits at the end of it all, except for Victor who was very
embarrassed, and Mario who was looking decidedly off-colour for causing such
a call-out in the first place.
I arrived home at 1430B.
The End. Graham MacMillan, D34 signing off. "
PHOTO BY: Steven Louw. Inside the Arrangieskop Hut.
L to R, Mr. John Davids, Mr. Fardeel
Ebrahim, Mr.Tops...( all of Worcester Ambulance Statio),Mr. Dirk De Koker...(
Robertson Ambulance Station ),
ASHTON MVA: SEPTEMBER 1, 1999I had just arrived home on the night of Tuesday the 31/08/99 from attending lectures in Somerset West, when Dirk De Koker of the Robertson Rescue Unit / Ambulance Service, called me to say that there had been a motor vehicle accident just outside Ashton, at the Ashton / Swellendam T- Junction. The time was 0130B. I was requested to haul over there and assess the situation. On arrival, approximately 0140B, I found a large refrigerated truck about 20 meters down a very steep and muddy incline lying on it's side in the river. At this time Dirk De Koker arrived and he asked me to go down to the cab of the vehicle and report on the status of the driver. This I did. On arrival, I found the driver hanging out of the windscreen, upside down, with his left foot trapped behind the pedals of the clutch / brake. His head was submerged in the water. At the 2 o' clock position from the driver, I was able to make out the naked thigh and buttock region of a second person. Both occupants were blue. Dirk and Mr Damons joined me below and we decided to use the " Jaws of Life " to cut the trapped body of the driver free. To do this we requested the police to send down a gurney to place the one body on. When we moved it we discovered that it was a semi - naked women, ID unknown. After the body removal, we set to work with the " jaws ". The time was approximately 0200B. By 0530B we had the body of the driver freed, placed in a gurney and on it's way topside. The bodies were taken away by the Ashton Police. By the time we had everything packed up the time was 0630B. We assisted with the winching up of the lorry, done by Tony's Breakdown from Worcester. Once completed, we stowed all the gear and it was off home. Once again Thank you to my wife Analie, and to all the other wives and family members who wait patiently at home for their " Rescuers". Graham MacMillan, D34
MONTAGUE - MISSING PERSON: AUGUST 29/30, 1999I received a call from the Montague Police Station at approximately 0200B on the night of Sunday 29.08.99. The call came from Sgt. Stanley Burger, who had received word earlier on in the day that a man had gone missing from the Montague Springs Area. I informed Zero2 and Dirk de Koker of the Robertson Rescue / Ambulance Service. The information received on arrival at the Police Station revealed the following: A male, Sadick Abrahams, 40 to 50 Yrs. old, Limited Mental Capacity, dressed in sandals, short pants and a t-shirt, was reported missing at 1600B by his family who were on holiday for the weekend at the Montague Springs. Sgt. Burger accompanied me to the Avalon Springs Hotel. I informed Zero 2 that all search personnel were to meet at the Springs Parking Area where I awaited the arrival of two more personnel from Worcester Ambulance service, Mr. John Davids and Mr.Tops. I briefed the teams on the situation and had the Ambulance Personnel search the area from Hotel through to the beginning of the Bloupunt Trail, including the cave, as they are very familiar with this area. Sgt. Burger and six of the missing persons family were to search the Canyon side. Later, I was informed by Sgt. Burger, that a positive ID had been attained on the trail in the form of sandal tracks matching those worn by the missing person. Dirk then found tracks on the Bloupunt side of the trail. This had now opened up a very large search area. We called in the help of Capt. Dion Van Der Merwe of the K9 Unit in Worcester to come and see if his dog could glean any more information / scent off the trail. This was not successful. We regrouped at the parking lot at 0630 to re-plan the search requirements. At this stage it was felt that Dr. Cleeve Robertson of Metro Cape Town should be called out to assist with this search. New information then came to light: the missing person was seen by a hotel employee at about 1630B on Sunday in the town of Montague. We began an intensive walk-about, door to door style, asking the inhabitants of the town if anyone had possibly seen this man on Sunday around 1600B. This too proved fruitless. We regrouped at the Police Station to await the arrival of Dr. Robertson. At approximately 1130B this morning we got the good news that Sadick had been found on a farm in Barrydale, some 40kms away and had been taken to the Barrydale Police Station. His family went to fetch him and reported to me that he was in good health and pleased to see them. Some points to come out of this search was the need for the Search Co-Ordinator, Dirk or myself, to be informed as soon as the Police receive a report of this nature. The 10 hour delay was most inappropriate as valuable time was lost and Sadick could well have been picked up in Montague an hour or two later. (Operation over and completed by 1800B ). Communications on the Metro repeater and simplex were touch and go at the best of times. I positioned myself on the main road to the springs where I got the best comms into the gorge.I was fortunate enough to be given a Police Radio which proved the best link under these circumstances, as a new repeater site has been erected since the suicide case, in the Koo area. A big thank you must go to all those involved including Analie, my wife, and the wives and family of all other members, who patiently wait at home. (And to those who were placed on standby during this operation - RvS) Graham MacMillan, D34 Out.
SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE - FRANSCHHOEK PASS: JULY 8, 1999Due to the Hi-Jack and murders in the Franschhoek Pass on the 7th of July 99, the SAPS asked for the assistance of the Rescue Unit to search for clues the following day. We all met at the Franschhoek Police Station at 10:00 and were briefed by the ORU Incident Commander Dave Georgeu, D20 and the police officers. We proceeded to the site which was a view point called 'Jan Jouberstgat'. At the scene, the rope team set about preparing their equipment making sure that all safety measures were taken. The search was done at a good pace always making sure the safety measures were followed. Several items were recovered. Later in the day the press arrived and Dave and the SAPS dealt with them. The operation was closed at about 14:30. The Unit and all who were involved were thanked and well looked after by the police lisison officer. Denis Hayward
We arrived at Franschhoek at 10:00 and at about 10:30 left for the scene were we set up two ropes for Dirk and myself to abseil down and start the search. This was done by 11:00 - the short preperation time being due to training and having done a similar exercise some 10 days before. We searched the area where the two bodies were found - collecting a pair of sunglasses, a hat, a shoe, a juice bottle, a bullet head and case as well as a "stomp", a small quantity of dagga in paper. The search went well, with just Dirk, D58 and myself doing most of the work on the steep slope and the rest checking the upper, less steep section. We finished at about 15:00. The reason for this quick work was training, which I would recommend that everyone attend, even if they are afraid of heights. Graham has experienced this fear but is coming along well and was also on the slope at the end of operations, "getting his feet wet" for the first time - well done! Gavin Holroyd D48 Signing Off
Photos: Graham Macmillan and Dave Georgeu
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and handed
over to the police who will check them for relevance to the case.