Western Cape police and the provincial Department of Employment and Labour have launched an investigation into the drowning of a 38-year-old student at the Blue Rock dam, following an alleged diving accident.
Western Cape police and the provincial Department of Employment and Labour have launched an investigation into the drowning of a 38-year-old student at the Blue Rock dam, following an alleged diving accident.
This is at least the fifth drowning incident at the Blue Rock Adventure Park facility in Somerset West since 2016.
The person is believed to have drowned during commercial diving training with the Jacks Dive Chest academy, which uses a section of Blue Rock for its specialised training.
In a statement, the diving school said: “The dives were done following the training standards at 40m depth.
An incident happened where a student diver was entangled under the water at 40m depth. All efforts were made to untie the diver, and several standby divers were deployed to assist with this task. The dive and following rescue were done on class ll Surface Supply.”
According to the academy all safety protocols were adhered to continuously.
“Our management team was on site while the rescue was in process.
The student diver was freed later in the afternoon and brought to the surface. It is with great sadness that we report that the diver unfortunately passed away in the incident. Efforts were made to resuscitate the diver on arrival on the surface, but all attempts were fruitless.
“There is an ongoing SA police and Department of Employment and Labour investigation into the matter.
We will keep our clients and agents up to date with further developments herein.”
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said a post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
“Somerset West police registered an inquest for investigation following an incident in which a 38-year-old man drowned at the Blue Rock dam, Sir Lowry’s Pass on Thursday, 29 August 2024. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.”
The Department of Employment and Labour said they were investigating the matter in terms of occupational health and safety (OHS).
The Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993, requires an employer to bring about and maintain “as far as reasonably practicable, a work environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the workers We regulate an employer, as there are laws they need to adhere to in terms of existing legislation when it comes to the safety of employees,” provincial spokesperson Jason Lloyd said.
Blue Rock said: “We were informed about an incident by the commercial diving academy, Jacks Dive Chest Dive Academy in Strand. The Jack Dive Chest Dive Academy is an independent operation that uses the Blue Rock Lake as their training ground and operates all year round. Many scuba-diving, free-diving and commercial diving schools use the lake as their training and teaching facility.
”The Blue Rock Waterski Resort also known as an adventure park is closed over the winter months from April to mid September and is a completely separate company and operation. Unfortunately, at this stage we do not have any further details of the incident.”
Cape Times
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