Over 1.6 Million Visit Durban Beaches For Bumper Christmas Weekend

Durban enjoyed a bumper weekend with more than 1,686,174 people visiting various beaches around the City during the long weekend, 23-25 December 2017. According to eThekwini Municipality it was a fun-filled and incident-free weekend with no drownings reported, thanks to a great team of lifesavers, police and municipal workers.

In a media release, the Durban Municipality said only 64 children were separated from their guardians/parents during the period.

“With the help of Child Minders that are located on the beachfront all children were reunited with their families on the same day,” said the Municipality.

The Beach Buddies and  Child Minders issued 13,785 wristbands during the past weekend. The wristband contains details of parents/guardians.

A dedicated team of 154 lifeguards made up of both permanent and seasonal lifeguards were deployed across the beachfront during this period. They successfully carried out 11 rescues and a total of 1,905 people received first aid treatment, mostly for bluebottle stings, jellyfish stings and minor cuts.

Chairperson of the Municipality’s Festive Season Management Committee, Malcolm Canham said that numbers were expected to rise from yesterday. He appealed to visitors to cooperate with law enforcement officers.

“I am please to report that it was a generally incident -free weekend with the exception of the two people that were arrested for cellphone and handbag theft.

“As much as we have beefed up security at our beaches, we appeal to beachgoers to ensure that there is always someone looking after their personal belongings.” emphasized Canham.

Beachgoers are also encouraged to make use of the Park and Ride system in order to limit the traffic congestion at the beach.

“When parking is full at the beach, people are encouraged to park at the Natal Command Site and the Old Drive-Inn site. We have People Mover Buses that have been provided to ferry people to the beach at no charge and they depart every 30 minutes.” said Canham.

The Metro Police Spokeperson, Senior Superintendent Parboo Sewparsad said that the city was applying a very stringent approach to policing drunken driving.

“A total of 172 motorists were arrested for drinking and driving at various roadblocks. There were 2 fatalities reported, a male who was under the influence of alcohol was knocked by a car and died at the scene on the N2 near Petro Port and another female died in a hit and run incident on Botanic Gardens Road.

“As much as we appeal to people not to drink and drive,we also want to appeal to pedestrians not to drink and walk,” said Sewparsad.