South African soldiers still missing at coast

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has finally shed some light on an incident that led to the drowning of three special forces soldiers taking part in a Southern African Development Community (SADC) multinational military exercise in Namibia. Two South African soldiers are missing at sea since the incident, while a Malawian soldier also died. Search-and-rescue operations are still under way to recover the bodies of the two South African soldiers. The Namibian authorities have remained tight-lipped about the accident that happened last weekend during the SADC special forces manoeuvres known as Exercise Welwitschia. This is a month-long training course in desert warfare and anti-piracy operations. Disaster struck when troops were practising beaching high-powered speedboats in rough sea conditions at Sandwich Harbour near Walvis Bay. The senior operations communications officer in the South African National Defence Force, Captain Zamo Sithole, said that on Saturday at approximately 19:00 one of the boats transporting troops towards the beach was swamped by a wave and capsized as it performed a power turn. According to Sithole, two Barracuda boats were approaching Walvis Bay for a beach landing when one executed a power turn and was flooded by a huge wave before capsizing. The second boat went to the assistance of the stricken vessel but when the soldiers scrambled onto the boat it also capsized. "Eleven of the 16 soldiers managed to swim to shore, and two others were rescued by an Angolan boat crew. The dead Malawian soldier washed ashore, and two South African soldiers are still missing. “The two capsized vessels were found about 16 kilometres away. A rescue operation, involving sea, air and land units, is under way and will continue, depending on the state of the sea," Sithole said. “No decision has been reached on when it will be called off.” The dead soldiers have not been identified yet. The Namibian Ministry of Defence has said it would issue a statement detailing the circumstances of the incident and its casualties in due course. The Erongo police confirmed yesterday that the bodies of the two SA soldiers had not been found yet. Divers from several SADC countries are still searching for their bodies. The three soldiers were part of a team of 32 special forces soldiers who were taking part in the boat exercise. Exercise Welwitschia is a multinational simulation exercise involving more than 700 personnel from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. It began on September 4 and is expected to end today, with the main portion of the exercise having taken place at Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Henties Bay between September 30 and today. The exercise involved practising the tactics, techniques and procedures of desert warfare and improving the readiness and interoperability of SADC special forces, the Namibian Defence Force (NDF) said. It also gave special forces the chance to coordinate anti-piracy operations. WINDHOEK ELLANIE SMIT