FALL: Rescuers lower an injured woman to waiting paramedics near the Steenbras Dam. She injured herself after jumping from a cliff at Crystal Pools.

A YOUNG woman had to be dramatically plucked from Crystal Pools near Gordon's Bay after leaping from a high cliff into the waters below and injuring herself. The woman 21, had climbed up the scenic hiking route from the Steenbras river mouth. The trail is known for a series of dark pools in which people swim and kloof - the term used to describe jumping from a cliff into a body of water.

Yesterday afternoon friends said the woman, whom they declined to name, jumped from “some height” into the third and largest of the pools while the rest of the group, who were sunbathing, looked on. “When she surfaced, we had thought she had been winded - it seemed she could not breathe,” one friend told the Cape Argus. “Her whole body seemed to be in some kind on spasm but we could not really see,” the friend said. Her friends plunged into the pool and swam to her rescue, managing to haul her to the side of the pool. Another friend then sprinted up the mountain gorge until he was able to get cellphone reception to alert authorities.

A private ambulance service was contacted first. They in turn called Metro Rescue, which immediately sent a helicopter to the scene because it would have taken paramedics more than an hour to reach the area by foot. Paramedics from the helicopter spent some time at the water's edge, meticulously strapping the woman on to a stretcher which was carefully winched into the hovering aircraft. Paramedics at the scene said the young woman was being treated for spinal and neck injuries.

It is not yet known whether she hit a rock or a tree trunk or whether she had been injured by the impact of the water. One rescuer on the scene was heard to comment: “I don’t know why they do this, jumping from so high into the water. It’s crazy” Friends asked that the media not publish the woman’s name as her condition was not yet known this morning. It has been confirmed that she was holidaying in the Cape with her boyfriend and lives in Kimberley.

“A police dive unit is continuing a search today for a 13-year-old boy from Elsies River who went missing in the surf at Kogel Baai at about 10:15am yesterday. He is believed to have drowned. NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said the institute’s Gordon’s Bay station, police, Metro Rescue and the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter had all responded to a call for assistance from lifeguards at the dangerous beach.

“Despite an extensive search, no sign of the child could be found, and it is presumed that he has drowned,” Lambinon said.

Article: Cape Argus

Date: 30 December 2009

Journalist: Staff Writer

Picture: Murray Williams