/ 8 January 2007

Husband and wife swept out to sea

The bodies of a husband and wife who were swept out to sea along with their daughter by a wave in Camps Bay in the Western Cape were recovered in Bakhoven, police said on Sunday.

Spokesperson Captain Randall Stoffels said paramedics tried to resuscitate the woman on Sunday.

He told the Mail & Guardian Online on Monday that she was declared dead after they were unable to revive her. Her husband was already dead when police found the bodies.

The couple’s eight-year-old daughter was unharmed.

The three were swept out to sea at 3pm while fishing from the rocks. “A huge wave came and swept them away,” Stoffels said.

Stoffels said that close family of the couple were informed of their deaths on Sunday but some family members were still abroad and could not be contacted.

Meanwhile, the search for a 13-year-old boy who drowned in Strandfontein while swimming, also on Sunday, was continuing on Monday.

Spokesperson for the National Sea Rescue Institute Craig Lambinon said the search had been handed over to the police and police divers were back on site on Monday morning.