Search efforts continued at first light on Saturday. Picture: IPSS Medical Rescue Two beachgoers who were washed out to sea on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast are still missing. Search efforts continued at first light on Saturday for the duo in the mass drowning incident off Pennington Beach in the late evening on New Year’s Day.
Five beachgoers were initially washed out to seaon that fateful day. National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesperson Craig Lambinon on Friday said that during the search, it was determined that there were, in fact, three men, all believed to be aged 21, still missing. According to NSRI, the group became distressed in the surf zone near the tidal pool at Pennington Beach.
One 18-year-old female victim was rescued on New Year’s Day and is currently in a stable condition, while a 21-year-old man was confirmed dead and his body recovered earlier during the initial search operation on the evening of 1 January 2026. The third body washed ashore about 100m from where the bathers entered the water. IPSS Medical Rescue spokesperson Samantha Meyrick said the organisation is searching for the missing men.
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“On Saturday morning, the search continues for three missing swimmers along the KZN coastline. In Pennington, lifeguards, NSRI and Saps Search and Rescue have returned to continue the search for two young men still missing. “In Ballito, teams from IPSS Search and Rescue and Kwadukuza Lifeguards are searching the coastline with jet skis and boats, hoping to find the man who went missing while swimming yesterday morning at Thompson’s Bay Beach,” Meyrick said.
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