MCSA Search & Rescue: Marloth Nature Reserve

Skymed (red circle) approaching the patient (red arrow). Photo by Meindertjan Rebel.

On Monday, 14 August 2017, members of the MSAR, as part of a WSAR Western Cape team, assisted in the rescue of a Belgian tourist who had become lost while hiking in the Marloth Nature Reserve near Swellendam.

He had not followed any of the normal trails and ended up getting stuck in a kloof on Monday afternoon. He was alone, had not told anyone where he was going, nor when he was due to return.

He was able to alert Cape Nature of his situation via cell phone. Rangers went looking for him and heard his shouting in a kloof, but were unable to reach him and requested assistance.

A team of rescuers hiked up on Monday night and established voice contact, but they were unable to determine his exact location because he didn’t have a headlamp with which to signal them. It was only at first light on Tuesday morning that two team members spotted him far below in the kloof. Fortunately the Air Mercy Service (AMS) helicopter from George was able to access the very deep and steep sided kloof. Guided by the ground team, they were able to extract him and take him to hospital.

For more information check out the MCSASAR Facebook Page

Source: MCSASAR Facebook page

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