A swimmer has gone missing at a beach in Umdloti, north of Durban Wednesday morning, while the body of a suspected drowning victim has been recovered at a beach along the city’s beachfront.

[DEVELOPING] Two bodies have been recovered along KZN’s north coast—one at Umdloti Beach, spotted by paddlers, and another at Westbrook Beach. Police are investigating. pic.twitter.com/weDFXIRiT6

— SABC News (@SABCNews) December 11, 2024

This is after 10 drowning incidents were reported in the last half of November in KwaZulu-Natal.

LifeSaving South Africa president Dhaya Sewduth says, “If you look at the incident that happened in Casuarina beach in Umdloti, apparently this was very early in the morning, about 4h15 am and there are no lifeguards around on duty at that particular time. So if someone does get into trouble, it means that there won’t be any assistance that will be able to reach them.”

Meanwhile, Sewduth has called on people to only swim at beaches where lifeguards are on duty.

“The eThekwini Municipality itself, as well as other municipalities usually have their professional lifeguards, and they recruit seasonal lifeguards to supplement the workforces around the country. Our lifeguards usually provide voluntary lifeguard duties on Sundays, on weekends, and on public holidays. And together with the professionals and the volunteers, we would hope that the bathing public would only swim where the lifeguards are on duty.”