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SINGAPORE – Two kayakers participated in a dramatic rescue after capsizing near floating waterfront barriers off Sentosa Cove.
The man and woman, believed to be in their 30s, were clinging to the blue barrels when their tandem kayak apparently flipped over after being caught in a current.
Rescuers used a boat and a jet ski to get them out of the sea. The couple, one of whom did not have a life jacket, were told that they had been kayaking at a “dangerous time” as there was rapid tidal flow.
Wade Pearce said he was driving to One Degree 15 Marina in Sentosa Cove around 5 p.m. Wednesday (December 2) when he noticed a commotion and saw the overturned kayak. The 33-year-old founder of the Singapore Marine Guide boating directory called in the navy, which dispatched a rescue boat.
“I didn’t think anybody could really rescue them within a good period of time and I didn’t know what the situation was, someone could be drowning,” he told The Straits Times on Monday (December 7).
A Coast Guard Police boat was also at the scene, but Pearce said it was too large to approach the stranded kayakers.
After reaching the couple in the rescue boat from the marina, Mr. Pearce pulled the kayaker out of the water. Meanwhile, a Sea-Doo jet ski operator rescued the man, who was hanging from the floating barriers without his life jacket.
A spokesman for the jet ski company said: “He was very lucky to be able to get on those. I’m not sure how long he was there before we left.”
Pearce added that the couple’s kayak likely capsized after a current washed it against the floating sea barriers.
“They were very calm and they knew they were in a situation but they did a good job of staying calm,” he said.
He said experienced kayakers would have avoided going there at the time as there was rapid tidal flow.
However, such calls for help have become more common in the area since the floating barriers were put in place, he said.
The floating blue barrels linked by chains are intended to deter illegal entry into Singapore and have been progressively installed in Sentosa Cove since last December.
“It’s a pretty conspicuous area right now for people to get caught in the currents and capsize in their kayaks, mostly due to the blue barrels installed,” Pearce said.
“Before (the barriers were installed), they would get caught in the current and they would keep going further inward and be free … Now if they get caught in the current they would get caught in the barrels and turn around.”
He added that the public should be more cautious of dangers at sea, noting that the channel between Sentosa and Lazarus Island can be tricky due to currents there.
“It’s one of those activities where 90 percent know what they’re doing and they’re doing it well,” he said. “But there is 10 percent who don’t understand the risk they are putting themselves into.”
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