Push to ban people from Glenelg breakwater after death of 15-year-old Indian girl
IT is a picture of quiet heartbreak — an Indian official quietly watching as the body of 15-year-old football player Nitisha Negi is retrieved at the Glenelg breakwater. Now there are new calls to ban people from the area.
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AN Indian team official stood quietly overlooking the Glenelg breakwater — the scene of the tragic drowning of 15-year-old Nitisha Negi.
On Monday morning the body of the Indian student, in Adelaide for the Pacific School Games, was retrieved from the nearby waters.
She went missing when swept into the water about 5.50pm on Sunday. The latest tragedy at the dangerous site has sparked calls from Surf Life Saving SA for it to be closed off.
It is believed Nitisha had been on the rocks, and had not intended to go swimming, when either a wave pushed her or she slipped into the water.
Three other teenagers and a 12-year-old — also from the Indian Pacific School Games football team — were also left in trouble near the rocks before they were rescued by surf lifesavers.
Two 17-year-olds were taken to the Flinders Medical Centre where one was listed as critical and one stable. Another 17-year-old was in the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a serious but stable condition and a 12-year-old was in the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in a stable condition.
A frantic boat and helicopter search was launched on Sunday evening to find Nitisha but was called off later due to a lack of light.
It resumed early Monday morning and soon after police located her body. Nitisha’s death was the third near the man-made breakwater in less than two years and prompted calls for people to be banned from the notorious area.
Two 11-year-old boys drowned near the rocks on New Year’s Day 2016. Another boy died while swimming at the same spot in November 2007.
Surf Life Saving SA operations manager Ben Laurenson said the organisation “would certainly welcome” a ban on people going on or near the rocks, a move which the State Government and Holdfast Bay Council is now considering.
“The breakwater is a man-made structure and it introduces some probably unnatural water flow that occurs around those rocks and with the current that runs through (there) and the prevailing winds, it just contributes to it not being a very safe place,” Mr Laurenson said.
“We’ve seen two major incidents last year and this is the third one no so it seems appropriate that that area of the beach needs to be looked at. If it needs to be closed to save someone’s life then it’s worth it.”
Holdfast Bay Council Mayor Stephen Patterson, whose son is a surf lifesaver and was involved in yesterday’s rescue, said his council would work with the State Government to determine the best option to make the area safer.
“Certainly council is working with the lead agencies...to do a review and we’ll take advice from them in terms of what is the best way forward because we want people to be safe on our beaches,” he said.
Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan said the government was “committed to working cooperatively with the City of Holdfast Bay to prevent these types of tragedies from occurring”.
“While banning swimming at this location is one option we are willing to consider, which can be done by either the State Government or council, there are a number of matters that need to be carefully considered as was highlighted in the 2015 Coroner’s inquest into the drowning deaths of three young men at Encounter Bay,” he said.
Premier Jay Weatherill said more needed to be done to protect people, particularly tourists, along our coastline.
“It seems that especially people that come into our state from other places, new arrivals, don’t seem to understand the threat posed by our coastline. It seems benign enough. But there are parts of the South Australian coastline that are hazardous and the signs are there for a reason,” he said.
“We’re going to have to do more and we’re reflecting on that.”
Frida Meares, 12, of Canberra, was walking along the beach with her mother, Jo, when they came across the distressed group of girls.
“We were just walking on the beach ... and we started hearing some girls and kids screaming out in the water, and waving,” she said.
“So as soon as I saw them I started to think of what I could do and I knew I couldn’t go in and save them because I wasn’t a good enough swimmer or wasn’t strong enough ... so I decided to go run and get the lifesavers so they could go and help them.”
A report is being prepared for the Coroner.
Hazard on our foreshore
Surf Lifesaving SA says there are a number of factors that contribute to dangerous conditions around breakwaters, particularly the breakwater at Glenelg.
■ Hazards include slippery rocks with the potential for injuries and waves washing up over the rocks in high surf conditions and unpredictable currents.
■ Currents around the breakwater can be strong and highly unpredictable because they are impacted by numerous factors.
■ Wind conditions, currents, tides, undertow, waves, freshwater release and flow from the nearby Patawalonga mouth can all contribute to dangerous conditions.
■ Strong currents around the breakwater can also make the water directly by it deeper than corresponding sections of the beach.
Deaths at Glenelg
Sunday: Nitisha Negi drowns in waters near the Glenelg breakwater. It is believed she slipped or fell from the breakwater.
New Year’s Day 2016: Young friends Frank Ndikuriyo and Thierry Niyomwungere, both aged 11 and originally from Burundi, drowned in the area.
November 2007: A 17-year-old boy drowned at Glenelg near the breakwater, prompting calls at the time for signs warning of the dangers to be installed.
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