Cape Town fisherman dies, two saved as boat capsizes at sea

A fisherman has died after his boat was lost at sea near Cape Town on Tuesday.

The man had been on a fishing trip with two other people when the motor had a mechanical failure and left them adrift between Smitswinkel Bay and Pringle Bay in the Cape.

"They had been drifting without motor power since earlier in the day while fishing in the Cape Point area when their motor failed, reportedly on Tuesday morning," said National Sea Rescue Institute Simonstown station commander Darren Zimmerman.

Zimmerman said that shortly after the men had raised the alarm on Tuesday about their situation, contact with them was lost. After a joint search between rescue personnel, the boat was located on Wednesday in Sandbaai on the Cape south coast.

"NSRI Hermanus, WC government health EMS, EMR ambulance services, the SA Police Services and a SA Air Force helicopter responded and on arrival on the scene it was found that the fishing boat had capsized in the waves at Sandbaai and washed ashore with the fishermen," Zimmerman.

Zimmerman said that CPR efforts were unsuccessful and the fisherman was declared dead on the scene. The other two were treated for hypothermia and transported to a local hospital.