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A selection of 2003 incidents for which we have received reports:
SUICIDE SEPARATION: 1/2 NOVEMBER 2003
FORWARD TO AREA COORDINATOR ALONG WITH TASK REGISTRATION AND OTHER DOCUMENTATION.
FORWARD APPROVED TASK PACKAGE TO AREA OFFICE.
REV 96/04/15 D15, Roy van Schoor
TABLE MOUNTAIN SEARCH - FRONT & WEST FACE: 3 JANUARY 2003ZERO 2
received a request for field operatives to assist in a search for two missing
persons at 0830B. D39 and D42
responded to the page and joined approximately 18 other WSAR operatives at the
lower cableway station. Kevin
Tromp, as search manager, gave a short briefing. The two
missing persons were a doctor and his son, who had ascended the mountain at
approximately 1800B the previous evening. They
specified that they would return home around 2100B.
However, by 2200B they had not arrived, and the doctor’s wife became
anxious and contacted WSAR. At 0600B Friday morning the doctor’s car was still in the
same position at Kloof Nek. It was then decided that a full ground search would
be initiated, with air support from SKYMED 2 if need be.
The available personnel were split into four teams each consisting of
four members, with several more personnel remaining as base staff.
One search team each were sent up India Venster, Kloof Corner Buttress,
Blinkwater Ravine and the Diagonal Route. These
routes were chosen after consultation with the missing doctor’s family and
hiking partners. D39 and
D42 formed part of the India Venster search team.
Soon after ascending past the first rock scramble onto the buttress to
the west of India Ravine, D42 observed movement near the Kloof Corner Buttress
path. Two men could be seen
descending the mountainside. By way
of a hasty traverse, D42 was able to intercept them and confirm these were in
fact the doctor and his son. This
information was swiftly conveyed to the rescue base and all parties returned to
the cableway station. The two
hikers had attempted to ascend Cairn Ravine but had struggled to follow the path
and became overtaken by darkness and poor weather.
They elected to spend the night under a small overhang out of the rain
and wind. Only by late morning had
the weather cleared sufficiently for them to begin descending, at which stage
the rescue team spotted them. Both
were extremely grateful for the efforts of Wilderness Search and Rescue.
All personnel stood down by 1100B. D42 Ross Hofmeyr OUTENIQUA SEARCH: 23 FEBRUARY 2003On a weekend away from all the hussle and bussle of the city, to visit my folks at Victoria bay in the tranquil town of George, I switched on my radio (Sun, 0900) to monitor the activities in the Garden route area, when a message came through that a person was missing somewhere along the railway line. Assuming that it was between Victoria bay and Kaaimans river mouth, where many fishermen have a night of fishing and drinking, and then either fall over the cliffs or get washed over by a wave, I got hold of George Metro control to obtain further details. A 64 year old man had gone missing in the Outeniqua mtn's: he was blind in one eye, has bad hearing and alzheimers. They had been there since Friday and did their usual hike with a drinking binge. After the father and son had "exchanged words", they seperated on Friday night. The son reported him missing on Saturday night at 2100. We met at the JOC on the mountain. A search party was already in progress with a sniffer dog. During this time we did our planning, while waiting for a SAR dog from Oudtsoorn. The dog never pitched and we started our search with a party of nine (Metro, Private paramedics & Mountain Club), along the railway line. We spotted some ground disturbances and investigated, only to be an animal. Information from the son, was that whenever the father got lost he headed down the rivers until he got to town. We headed up the dense, marshy river gorge, as the original SAR team was heading down from the top of the mountain. The bushes and trees were incredibly thick. After 2 hours we located the missing person, who's legs had given in. The other party was radioed (who consequently had 4 portables between them, our party of 9 had only my Delta radio!), we all gathered at the patient who was stabilised and was then escorted out of the mountain (a lot of persuasion was given for him to put on a harness or "G-String") . The patient was very tired and had a noticeable hangover, with constant requests for more mellow-wood brandy! According to him he had been in the mountain for "11 days"! He was pulled up the steep slopes with a simple belay, on flatter terrain he was constantly encouraged and at times with the promise of catching some big fish when he got home! The weather was worsening, with heavy mist and rain. We reached the JOC at 15:23, and stood down at 15:35. Alex, D39
TABLE MOUNTAIN SEARCH: 20 FEBRUARU 2003 (WSAR OP)On Thursday 20 February 2003 at 22:20 a group page went out
from Zero 2: “Call out – search on TM. If you are in 30 min of TM pls call
02 – 852 3318 or 852 4391.” D 47 – Walter Meyer & myself (D27
– Deon Gouws) responded. Zero 2 briefed us on the situation: “3 Young people
lost on Table Mountain, you must go and help to search for them.” I arrived at the Lower Cable Station at approximately 22:45 and Walther (D 47) soon after. Kevin divided us into 2 teams - Team A:
Craig & Myself; Team B: Steven, Anzwar & Walther. With Craig &
Steven as team leaders. Team a was to start at the Upper Cable
station and search in a clock wise direction across the top of the mountain and
Team B in a anti clock wise direction. The lost party had a cellular phone and gave a detailed description of their surroundings: · They could see part of the cable going up the mountain. · They could see the harbour. · There was a “valley” in front of them. · And it looked like they were on a different mountain! Using this information, Kevin, Steven
& Craig (with the use of a map) made the assumption that the “valley”
they spoke about was Platteklip Gorge and with the other info, Kevin made an 'X'
on the map and said he thought that was their position. (It turned out he was
only a fraction out!) We proceeded up the mountain in the
Cable Car and reached the Upper station at 23:15 from where the two teams split
up and started their search. After about 10 min, we were close to
Platteklip Gorge and called out for them. They answered and flashed their
camera’s flash. We crossed Platteklip Gorge where the two teams then
became one and reached the party at about 23:35. All were uninjured and very
keen to get back. After a short break we gave them headlights, torches
& warm clothing before returning to the Upper Cable Station. We reached it
at 00:05 without any incident. At the CCU we were debriefed and stood
down at 00:20. Concerns: The rescue took place without any incidents and we located the party very quickly. The only problem I found was that Metro 1 does not have a radio with the WSAR channel on it, so we had to use a Metro channel for comms. It worked fine this time, like many before, but caused frustration because of other traffic on their channels. D 27 – Deon Gouws TM RESCUE - PLATTEKLIP GORGE: 16 APRIL 2003At 1655B
ZERO 2 received a request from the WSAR Peninsula Cell for field operatives to
respond to a 66-year-old gentleman “collapsed” in Platteklip Gorge.
D42 responded and reached the bottom of the path in Tafelberg Road at
1728B. A small party of WSAR
personnel including a METRO paramedic ascended to the subject above the contour
path. The
subject was a certain Mr Cooper, a tourist from Scotland who had climbed to
Maclear’s Beacon but began to experience pain in his knees on descent.
He was known to have rheumatoid arthritis.
His companion called for help when it became evident that he could not
continue. Unfortunately, the stretcher was unavailable (in HA2, stuck in traffic) and SKYMED2 equally busy on a sea rescue call. After a brief discussion with the patient the rescue party elected to put a harness on Mr Cooper and use this to support him as he tried to walk down. This proved very effective, and by sunset he was safely and comfortably at Tafelberg Road. All personnel stood down at 1840B. D42 Ross Hofmeyr
Elsie’s Peak Rescue: 27 April 2003Devil’s Peak Search: 28 April 2003
TULBAGH SEARCH: 2 JULY 2003
PNIEL SEARCH: 4/5 AUGUST 2003
Devil’s Peak Rescue: Wednesday 20 August 2003DSAR control room “Zero 2” issued a page at 2125B after receiving a request for assistance from WSAR Peninsula Cell duty manager Steve Fortuin. D27, D28, D33, D38 and D42 responded to the end of the Saddle path on Tafelberg Road. WSAR members Morgan Behr, Anwaaz Bent and Trevor Rodney also responded to the ICP, with all personnel arriving by 2215B. A group of University of Cape Town mechanical engineering students had set off at 1400B to climb Devil’s Peak to see the unusual snow fall and were overcome by darkness during their descent of Oppelskop Ridge. Fearing that they would wander off a cliff edge in the darkness (none had torches) they called Rondebosch SAPS who then alerted METRO control. Several members of the police services arrived at the ICP at the same time as the rescue team. Weather conditions were clear with no wind, but the ambient temperature on the mountain dropped to 0.9 C during the night.
After a short debriefing, all personnel stood down by 0000B. D42 Ross Hofmeyr
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