John Roberts, who drowned in the Hout Bay tragedy, was hailed as a hero for giving up his lifejacket for someone else.
|||Cape Town - Crew member John Roberts, who drowned in the Hout Bay charter boat tragedy on Saturday, has been hailed as a hero for giving up his lifejacket for someone else.
The 37-year-old Hout Bay man’s body was found 21m below the surface by divers on Sunday.
Reverend Jonty Dreyer, a Hout Bay community leader who was part of the rescue team, said on Sunday of Roberts: “He had a lifejacket and he gave it to someone else. [He] died a hero.”
Friends and family of Roberts had been at the Hout Bay harbour since 6am waiting for his body to be recovered.
Roberts was one of 40 people who were on the Miroshga when it capsized near Duiker Island at about 3pm on Saturday. He and British tourist Peter Hyett, 64, drowned.
When Roberts’s body was carried into the mortuary van, friends and family huddled together crying and comforting each other. His son, Duran Roberts, said he was overwhelmed but relieved that his father’s body had been found.
“We have been here for three hours and I am not sure what is going on. But it is a relief that they have found him,” he said.
Estelle Bezuidenhout, Roberts’s elder sister, said she was on honeymoon when their mother called with the news.
“We immediately drove back home. I still can’t believe this happened,” she said.
Bezuidenhout said her brother was involved in community work in Hout Bay and had recently started working on the boat.
She said he lived with his girlfriend, Sharlene Malan, and had three children: Duran, Nivana and Theo.
Brent Thomas, one of Roberts’s closest friends, said Roberts had always tried to make a difference.
“He started a band called Resurrection, which was made up of people in the area. He always tried to make a difference, and he was a Khoisan activist.”
Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said an inquest docket had been opened.
Police would investigate the incident with the NSRI and the SA Maritime Safety Authority.
He said they would decide whether or not to charge the owner after the investigation.
Gert Strauss, of Southern Ambition Marine Safaris, which owns the Miroshga, issued a statement on Sunday expressing the firm’s “shock and sadness at the accident… our sincerest condolences go out to the families of the victims”.
Strauss said the firm was collaborating with authorities to see a speedy conclusion to the inquiry.
A staff member at the company’s base in Hout Bay, who did not want to be named, said the boat trips had been suspended indefinitely.
Cape Argus