The Wall: Back from the Edge | Rescue at Grootdraai Dam transcript

We've got four guys on the dam wall with a vessel. They're hanging in the water. We're going into this to go and try and save them. And that's a 42-m drop. If we get too close and it goes south, it's going to go south big time. >> [music] [music] >> a school for cancer instance >> [music] >> So that is on span and atmosphere. It's a big guy in the door fight while I'm all gone. Come eat the battery out alone. the wind wind direction This is going to come back with fire water.

And it's going to be a rain squat so the dam was wet. We need to go to go to the bottom to ride. When the whole way is near the ground. The whole thing was a I'm going to get some of my small and say send my doctor to And it was all in by 5 years of cancer but I got a call to get crazy. fun human but I can say it though it's a word. But this is my double to the driver to make a tight. I'm of all senior by a son to come from help me.

And to all snow by the mission double can see. It can see that the word cloud yet to get the wall fast to buy it. So that's a big slide from the market where you do this. And then he [music] froze someone that can come help. I could have said the wind is not the stack. This is the follow. And to act all See the senior the board of the downfall. Dollar could see this is even before he said a problem. I could use a link to also cause of the islands.

We are daily going to see them. I was such a tight the boats and we are going and they are going to be walk near the storm and they are going to be walking. The men said to have a stone to come help. I was feeling like it was from the second >> [music] >> standard on the brand gear and the police. I can roll speed up monthly was here to be but it was on that story and for me all the way to do from the counter. Woodbank station is responsible for the whole of Mpumalanga as well as Limpopo.

And 90% of our calls are not on our dam surprisingly. Flood season even more. But majority of our calls are boats that capsize on unprotected waters. It was a a Monday >> [music] >> when the call came through. The call came in at about 7:00. Phone rang it was the ordering based in Komatipoort. He then asked if we could go out and assist at Grootdraai Dam with a boat being stuck on the dam wall. We were down to four crew in the town.

What happens over Christmas is [music] everyone evacuates Woodbank and goes down to the coast. And we chose the three that were available and we responded to four civilians that were sitting on the dam wall. We went to my in-laws for a brunch with the [music] rest of the family, and then we got back home around about 5:00. I basically just [music] walked in there, and then Travis phoned me. The morning I probably slept in because it was a well-deserved December holiday, but I was spending [music] time with the family, swimming, braaing, packing to go all together on a family vacation the next [music] day.

And then Travis phoned, and if Travis phones you, you you answer like yesterday. So, when he told me we got to go, I said, "All right, let's go." After we received the [music] call, the policeman sent the photos through and the videos through that he had, [music] and said, "Okay, these people are hanging off the edge. Whatever you need to do, you need to get there, and you need to get there quickly. [music] And it's 2 and 1/2 hours drive from station." We then geared it up to 5.5, loaded the vessel, and we headed out, and that was 1/4 to 8:00. >> [music] >> We were on our way there, and then Travis showed us the video.

And then I realized this is not just the normal "Let's quickly go and help somebody that's got a problem with their outboard and tow them back." Um this is a bit more serious. The first thought, honestly, oh You anticipate what is going to happen, what's the best plan going to be. So, yeah, your your brain goes into a million different ways. The initial plan was to go in with a stern into the casualties, lower two lines out the back and then pull the people closer to the boat and then put them onto the boat.

But we also didn't know what the conditions were. It's obviously all up in the air as to what we're going to >> [music] >> actually do when we get there. Luckily, we know each other. Train together. So, have to stay calm. Stick to the plan. And just do it. Once we arrived, there was about five civilians that were standing around the slipway. It's dark, number one. Number two, we've never been on this dam before. And I took one look at this bloke and I said, "You wear a life jacket here." And he said, "Yeah, where am I going?" I said, "You're coming with me." And he looked at me and said, "Well, um okay." >> [music] >> Okay, we got four guys on the dam wall with a vessel.

They're hanging in the water. We're going into this to go and try and save them. If something goes wrong, we're going to take them over and we're going to go over this wall. And that's a 42-m drop. The crew turned around and said, "They've been dangling there for 4 hours already. It's a matter of time before they start letting go and going over the edge. Let's just go in and get this done. We are about 50 m off the dam wall.

This is where we have found the vessel on the 29th of December. Yeah, we're sitting and you're looking at it and you're like, we weren't here. As the saying goes, it's night and day. It's completely different to what it is in the daylight than what it was that night. That specific evening, the opening on the dam wall, where the overflow was, was not just where the water was going over. The wind direction was lining up as well.

And that was now where we came in. The dam at that stage, I think, was 106% full, so it was really flying. The catchment area gets a lot of rain >> [music] >> and it picks up very quickly. When we were having the briefing from the locals, they had said the previous day they had over 100 mm of rain and that was still to come into the dam. The amount of water that was flowing, going over the dam wall, it was by millimeters, inches, that it was not lifting the boat and pushing the boat over the edge.

We saw where they were and they were all hanging on the back of the boat. And our plan was to go in a stern and pull them off one by one. Where the casualty vessel was was not 100% lined up, so we weren't 100% bow in. So, we were being rocked from side to side, and I had very little control over where the vessel was going. You look at your team members and go like, "Right, what's happening now? Is is the original plan still in place, or do we have to do something else?" Travis just said, "This is not going to work." And then I moved to the front cuz I knew he's going to go in with the bow first.

I then turned the vessel around. By means of doing that, it gave us a bit more control over the vessel. But, the downfall by going bow first towards them is should you get into a situation that you need to hold it, the reverse power might not have been there to get us out. And we were literally doing 10 and 15 m away from a 40-m drop. The initial attempt was going to be two lines off of the bow with two zeros on either side so that they've got flotation, and so that we could pull them back one by one.

We then dispatched one line out towards them. I threw it, missed it, threw it again, they got hold of it. And as soon as the first one got hold of it, Travis started moving back a bit to get us into a safer position. As soon as that happened, the vessel that was on the dam wall started to rock. We realized we can't pull them off one by one because the risk is higher that the boat will go over as we take the weight off the back.

I asked the crew in front of me, "Are you good to hold the four of them?" Francois turned around and said he's good. And I told them, "Guys, the four of you are onto that single line now." As soon as all of them were on I just held on to the rope. Started pulling them in. I wasn't really thinking about anything else. I was just watching them that all four of them stay on. Muscle strength, etc. etc. You can be the strongest bloke under the sun, but you still got to hold on to that line with water drag, taking into consideration that they'd been lying there for 4 hours.

When the first one got close to the boat, he instinctively grabbed on. And I directed him to further to the back. And that's where Jaco Lean was waiting for them. So, she moved a bit forward as well. I helped to pull them out of the water. And I remember their skin was extremely cold. That last casualty was so disorientated. I'm sitting here with goosebumps. There's no feeling like when we when we rolled that egg onto the boat.

And then we're like, "Okay, we've got you." And as soon as they saw we're heading back to land, you could literally feel the pressure and feel the relief on the boat. When we came round the corners back into the launching site, there's no more relief than that feeling. I honestly don't think they thought they'd survived that. Because no one else would really have attempted to go that close to the dam wall. Driving back to station, I think we all said if we saw where they were sitting in daylight, [music] we would have probably thought twice about it.

There's no ways we would have done this in the daytime. Because it was night, you couldn't you couldn't really see the danger. And on our way home, we started seeing the videos that were taken off the dam wall. And we looked at it and we said, "Did we really just do [music] this?" Looking back at that video, I remember when my brother showed it to my dad, he went white. He was like, "You did [music] what?" Jaco Lena was like, "Guys, there was a 40-m drop 15 m away from us.

What did we just do?" And the response was, "We saved four lives." It's just what you do, right? >> [music] >> Would you do it again? Definitely. Saving someone to to give them a second chance at life, it's what makes it worth it. In all honesty, I just did my training. >> [music] >> And the crew that were with me, I'd do it again with them. You don't have to be crazy to join us. We'll teach you the crazy. For the first [music] time in my life, I feel like I have a place to belong, [music] to to actually do good.

It's a passion. You have to want to do it to help people and not get any rewards [music] from it. And the fact that you do it without wanting any recognition [music] or praise or anything from it, makes it even better. So, not the NSRI, so that our So, these ones professional work up to lay in the >> [music] >> area tight. I think that the outcome of the understand the lemons [music] are in >> What was the first thing you did when you got home?

Had a hot shower. It was 2:00 in the morning. Climbed into bed, slept for 2 hours, and the next day started. So, yeah, life carries on. By the time I got back, I said, >> [music] >> "It's too early in the morning for me to go to bed now, so I'm just going to stay awake." The dogs [music] said that I wanted to play when I got there, so they helped me a bit, and then I went to work the next day. I got back [music] home at 25 past 3:00 in the morning, and then I started packing all my stuff.

And at [music] 4:00 I was at my father's house, so we started packing the cars to go. So, I literally [music] came home, had a cup of coffee, and then packed, showered, and then we went on holiday. [music] As if nothing ever happened. >> [music] [music]