Jan Oosthuizen is lucky and thankful to be alive. Photo: Supplied
GEORGE NEWS - Plastic cooldrink bottles, quick-thinking fellow fishermen and the speedy action of the local NSRI all contributed to saving the life of local fisherman Jan Oosthuizen (59) on Tuesday evening, 9 March.
“It felt like I was in a washing machine and when I woke up this morning it felt as if I had run a marathon,” he said the day after the incident. Oosthuizen went fishing near the Gwaiing River mouth when a wave washed him off the rocks.
“The force of the wave pushed me so far down that it became dark around me. It took everything in me to go up and catch my breath before the next wave washed over me and forced me under the water, ” he says.