A British tourist died after she was
swept out to sea at a remote beach in
South Africa while out riding her horse.
Claire Jackson had been riding on the
beach at Wavecrest in the Eastern Cape
with a friend and their tour guide when
disaster struck.
To return to their hotel, the trio had to
cross a river mouth which was swollen after
heavy rains.
Claire's horse lost its footing and
she was thrown into the water and swept
out to sea by the current. Her body was
later recovered by guests at the hotel.
South African Police Superintendent
Gcinikaya Taleni said: "It seems that
the tide sucked one of them out to sea."
The beach resort is ten miles down a dirt
track from the nearest main road and is one
of the most isolated in the Eastern Cape. It
is in an area formerly known as the Transkei
homeland - a desperately poor region that
was the birthplace of ex-president Nelson
Mandela.
Conrad Winterbach, owner of the
Wavecrest Hotel where the two British
women were staying, said 36-year-old
Claire, an engineer from London, and her
friend Lindsey Tibbs, 24, were on a tour
organised by their guide Julie-Anne
Gower's company Wild Coast Horse Trails.
The firm advertises itself as "South
Africa's premier horseback beach-riding
holiday vacation along the Transkei &
Eastern Cape Wild Coast".
Mr Winterbach said: "They had gone on
a ride and they needed to cross the
river to get back. We've had very heavy
thunderstorms and massive flooding which
has gouged out channels in the river
bed. As they went across, the horses
fell into a fast-moving channel. The
other two got back to the river bank but
Claire was swept out to sea. It was a
terrible, freak accident."
Mr Winterbach described how he
himself was almost swept away when he
tried to rescue Claire. He said: "I took
my boat out, but as soon as I got out of
the river mouth I was swamped. Luckily I
had a life jacket on. The boat was
washed on to the rocks. The other guests
managed to pull Claire out and on to a
flat rock, but there were no vital
signs. We tried to revive her for an
hour but we couldn't save her."
Claire's horse survived and was found
about an hour later. The two other
horses were also discovered later that
night.
The remoteness of the area meant it
was two hours before rescue services
arrived. Captain John Fobian, of the
South African Police Service's Disaster
Management Division, said they had done
all they could once the alarm was
raised.
"They requested assistance from East
London but it's a two-hour drive from
there to Wavecrest. They requested
helicopters but they have to come out of
Durban or Cape Town and that would have
meant a three-hour delay, so we sent
what we could by road."
Mr Winterbach said both survivors
were too traumatised to speak and that
Miss Tibbs was still at the hotel. "A
lot of people have tried to speak to her
but she just keeps breaking down," he
added. "She recognises it was a freak
accident. She doesn't blame anyone."
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