The deaths of two boys playing in the tidal pool at the Monwabisi beach resort marked the 10th drowning there in three years.
|||Cape Town - The deaths of two boys playing in the tidal pool at the Monwabisi beach resort last week marked the 10th drowning there in three years.
While the beach’s rip tides are a hazard, experts have concluded that the area is a massive problem needing to be addressed.
Mihlali Feni and Luzuko Sidumo, both nine, were among five children from Tafelsig who stole off to swim on Worker’s Day.
But the two drowned in the beach’s tidal pool.
Mayoral committee member for community services and special projects Belinda Walker said
: “The tidal pool tends to attract children who come unsupervised, many of whom can’t swim or are not strong swimmers.”
Walker said there weren’t any lifeguards on duty because summer was over.
The beach is described by the city as catering mainly to the residents of Khayelitsha, but is largely populated by fishermen during winter .
Walker said the tidal pool at the resort had been designed to have sea water flushing through it at high tide.
“Any pool is dangerous without proper adult supervision. We know where there are communities where children go without parents and we need to look at it a lot more carefully,” said Walker.
Koos Schoonees, regional director for WSP Coastal Engineers, said the tidal pool had been a contentious issue in the early 1990s.
The way it had been constructed had resulted in an uneven bottom, and swimmers went from waist-deep to two metres underwater in a single step.
A rip tide running along the beach could easily drag swimmers almost 100m out to sea.
While he said issues with the tidal pool had been resolved, the current was still there and signage along the beach warned swimmers not to go beyond the breakwater.
“Once you go past the tip of the breakwater, it’s no use to try and swim against that current. Even an Olympic swimmer couldn’t swim against that current… But people panic.
“We proposed to put up some rope along the current so at least people could pull themselves back to the breakwater, but as far as I know this was never done.”
While he admitted the beach was one of Cape Town’s most dangerous, it had been significantly improved. People also still drowned in places such as Melkbaai beach in Strand, which is widely regarded as one of the Western Cape’s safest places.
The Western Cape’s regional lifesaving co-ordinator Ed Schroeder said there was a common misconception that a flat section of water, such as the tidal pool, was inherently safe. “There is no such thing as safe water.”
He said Monwabisi’s stretch of coastline was a headache for lifeguards who constantly had to shepherd people closer to the beach during peak season, as overcrowding sent swimmers searching for space beyond the breakwater and among the treacherous currents.
kieran.legg@inl.co.za
Cape Argus