Glenelg Life Saving Club captain Shaun Armstrong tells of efforts to save drowning victim
WHEN Shaun Armstrong saw the surf patrol dash into the water at high speed last Sunday evening, he knew he had an emergency on his hands.
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WHEN Shaun Armstrong saw the surf patrol dash into the water at high speed last Sunday evening, he knew he had an emergency on his hands.
As captain of the Glenelg Surf Life Saving Club, he immediately went into action — heading a 50-strong rescue mission.
“We saw the patrol take off towards the groyne and with the speed they were going we knew straight away it wasn’t just a normal patrol, it was something serious,” he says.
“By the time we got down there they had already retrieved four girls out of the water.”
During the rescue CPR was performed on two of the girls, in Adelaide as members of the Indian Pacific Games soccer team.
Mr Armstrong himself spent two hours in the sea, trying to find a 15-year-old teammate, Nitisha Negi.
Along with his life saver colleagues, he performed line searches.
The rescue party began their sweep anywhere they could around the rocks but fading daylight made it tougher as the minutes ticked on and desperation kicked in.
Police jet boats, three inflatable rescue boats and two helicopters joined the large-scale search.
“We continued doing line searches until we got pulled out of the water at about 7.30 because of (fading) daylight,” he said.
Her body was found the following morning.
It is believed she fell from the breakwater rocks and drowned.
“We always want to get everyone home safe, and one drowning is too many,” Mr Armstrong says.
“But at the same time we were able to get four of them out of the water and four girls were able to leave Glenelg safe. We are very grateful for that.”
Mr Armstrong, 26, has captained the surf club for the past three years and was also on the scene when two 11-year-old boys Frank Ndikuriyo and Thierry Niyomwungere drowned near the rocks on New Year’s Day 2016.
He says he is proud of the actions his club members took on the day.
“We have the busiest beach in Adelaide and we obviously do the best we can to keep everyone informed and safe but we can’t inform everyone,” Mr Armstrong says.
“Throughout the season we’re doing about 35,000 hours patrolling over summer and in that time there’s hundreds of preventive rescues and thousands of preventive actions that we do.”
Mr Armstrong says being aware of potential dangers at the beach is key, even for experienced swimmers.
“We’ve got a lot of sand movement now and the beach is changing so even people that have been down to Glenelg a lot can still get into trouble,” he says.