A local fisherman Jaylin Prins lost his life late in the afternoon of Thursday 5 Feb, as a result of a lightning strike, heard over most of Sedgefield.

The 35-year-old Smutsville resident was in a row boat with a friend, Ivan Bruintjies, fishing on the lagoon not far from the shore of The Island.
Ivan said that he was sitting, whilst Jaylin, his fishing partner of two years, was standing to cast his throw net when out of nowhere the lightning struck.
“I don’t know if he was hit directly, or what happened,” the devastated fisherman told us later, “I am just so very heart-sore to lose my friend in such a way.”

Living close to the water on Andries Pretorious Street, Island residents Frikkie Reynders and son Marko said the lightning strike – which happened at about 17.25 – was so loud they thought their house had been hit.
“Moments later we heard shouting from the lagoon, and rushed upstairs to get a better view of what was going on,” said Frikkie.

What they saw was heartbreaking. About 30m off shore, a water-logged rowing boat sat on the edge of a sandbank, with one fisherman desperately shouting for help as he sat with the other fisherman in his arms.

After calling the fire department to alert emergency response, both the Reynders men rushed to help, with Marko having the presence of mind to grab their inflated tube (the sort towed behind a speedboat) as they headed into the water and over to the sandbank. The tube was big enough that both the fishermen could be loaded on, but right away Frikkie had doubts as to whether Jaylin was alive.

The emergency responders arrived within a minute of the four men getting back to shore.

“I was so very impressed with the various teams that arrived so quickly,” said Frikkie, “There must have been about 20 people from various departments, all dropping everything to rush to the scene and help.”
Whilst Ivan was understandably traumatised, he was uninjured. Unfortunately there was nothing anyone could do for his fishing friend Jaylin who was declared DOA.

Our heartfelt condolences to Jaylin’s family and friends for their tragic loss.