CANOEIST Shaun Manion, 22, remains in a critical condition at the Mediclinic Hospital in Pietermaritzburg after almost drowning on the first day of the Dusi Canoe Marathon. Manion, from Durban, was underwater for almost seven minutes before fellow canoeists finally reached him. He was not breathing and his heart was not beating. According to hospital staff there has been no change in his condition and his condition remians critical. Manion is believed to have caught his foot in submerged barbed wire when he tipped into the water while negotiating the “Hole-In-The-Wall” rapids.
Manion was apparently swept away by strong currents in the knee-deep water.