- A rental car rented by an American tourist fell into the water in the port of Hermanus.
- The tourist was picking up his diving equipment from Neptune’s Divers and Cruises when the vehicle rolled into the water.
- A crane stationed at the port was used to pull out the vehicle.
The wheels of misfortune turned into a catastrophe for an American tourist when his rented vehicle plunged into the water in the port of Hermanus on Friday morning.
The vehicle spent most of the afternoon underwater.
“He had his laptop, his camera, his lenses, his whole life was in this car,” said Marx Mohr, owner of Neptuns Divers and Cruises, which is located at the port.
“He had just started a nine-month stay in Africa and wanted to go up the east coast.”
The tourist had come to pick up his diving equipment from Neptune, which he left to dry overnight after a dive.
“He came to pick up his things and parked right in front of our office,” Marx’s wife Makayla told News24.
“As he approached the office, I saw the car roll behind his back and screamed.”
tourist
The incident occurred at 9:30 a.m.
When the tourist tried to get his belongings out of the floating car, Makayla advised him that it was too risky.
Despite the initial shock, she said he calmly coped with the situation.
“He was actually very calm, cool and collected. He did it very well, probably better than most people. He was instantly on the ball and spoke to the insurance company,” she said.
Makayla said they couldn’t touch the vehicle until the insurance company gave permission.
“We couldn’t pick it up until 2:00 p.m.”
The recovery operation went smoothly, she said.
Fortunately, the car landed in the water in front of the harbor crane that was used to lift the vehicle from the seabed.
“Commercial divers dived down to the vehicle to attach straps that were used to pull the vehicle out,” she said.
Hermanus Towing watched the car carefully as it lowered to make sure it landed on its tires.
It is still unclear why the vehicle rolled into port.
