Rescue Staff Up for Great Honour | Western Cape Government

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Rescue Staff Up for Great Honour

23 August 2013

Western Cape Government Health’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel have once again been named finalists in the Centrum Guardian Project 2013.

Fabian Higgens and Elvin Stoffels were part of a group of rescuers who were involved in a rescue operation when the Miroshga, a passenger vessel, capsized off the coast of Hout Bay at Duiker Island on 13 October 2012.

The team, consisting of two EMS staff members and six members of the Western Cape Diving Unit, had already recovered 35 passengers when it was established that three passengers were unaccounted for and still missing at sea.

Fabian Higgens, one of the divers, dove underneath the upturned hull and located the first passenger in the forepeak of the starboard hull. He managed to surface with the patient, but there were two more women trapped in the hull of the boat.

The team battled for a further three hours to rescue the women who were trapped.

This team is now a finalist in the annual Centrum Guardian Project and was nominated for an award for bravery.

The centrum Guardian Project, a national competition, acknowledges and showcases the true-life incidents that people in the South African emergency services, from both the private and public sector, deal with every day.

The finalists in the competition were filmed and the episode depicting the re-enactment about the divers will be aired on SABC 3 on Sunday at 16:30.

The voting for the finalists closes on 11 September 2013.

People can show their support by voting:

Media Enquiries: 

Angelique Jordaan
Communications Officer: Head Office
Western Cape Government Health
Tel: 021 483 3563
E-mail: angelique.jordaan@westerncape.gov.za