Tragedy.
Tragedy struck, and continues to slowly unspool, off the popular Dutch beach resort of Scheveningen as five surfers have been killed, more are still missing and several others required rescuing during the last 24-hours.
Per DW News:
Rescue teams in the Netherlands on Tuesday recovered the bodies of three surfers. Two other people rescued from the sea the day before died shortly after being pulled from the water.
Surfers familiar with the conditions at Scheveningen told the Dutch public broadcasting organization NOS that strong winds and adverse currents might have made things difficult for the surfers, some of whom were reportedly very experienced. They said the large amount of foam on the waves may also have played a role.
The search for the missing surfers was called off as darkness fell but resumed this morning with rescue helicopters flying close to the water in order to blast away the foam.
And in all my years of reading, writing about surfing I have never seen anything like this. It is difficult to fathom the scope of destruction and conditions that could have claimed so many lives.
Surf forecast site MagicSeaweed describes Schevenigen as, “Most well know spot in Holland, a stretch of small jettys flanked by a huge harbour wall that gives SW wind protection and a paddling out channel. Often lacks in power and closes out, therefore a lot of longboarders. Picks up all swell directions and breaks through the tide but best on a NW at high.”
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A lot of kitesurfers lost there boards in de thick foam layer along the whole coast. It was about 10 meters wide and 1meter high. The kitesurfers where fine but All those boards And foam where pusht by the current and wind towards the jetty in scheveningen harbor. Where the layer of foam was around 40meters wide and also floating on de water. Thats where this tragedy happend, with the surfers/bodysurfers
That is a fucked up amount of foam in the rescue video. Suprised they couldn’t climb through it up the rock, but if they got swept over there and were stuck for a minute or so before they could get to jetty easy to see how you could get completely stuck under the foam.
foam has now killed more surfers than sharks this year…fucking wild
That is so horrible. I spent a bit of time there once and was surprised to find a proper surf scene, those guys are core. It’s actually a suburb of The Hague. Condolences to all.
Apparently a lot of people were in trouble and got rescued. Maybe a few of them were kiters. But the ones that died were surfers/bodysurfers
A bunch of them were doing bodysurfing.
Wearing nothing but swimfins and wetsuits. They predicted the sweep towards the harbour jetty. Came out halfway walked back to the starting point.
Went for another round. Then didnt come out in time. Got lost in the meters of foam collected in the corner next to the jetty.
They must have suffocated in the foam.
Some of them were very experienced surfers and lifeguards. The main question in my mind is why did they not take the 20 min walk to the south side of the harbour given the conditions..
Very sad news for our local scene
Thanks for the clarification and such an absolute tragedy… very sorry.
That foam can be a killer. You can drown without your head actually being underwater.
Locally two lifeguards almost drowned saving two women that fell off the cliffs. One of the women drowned and the lifeguards were hospitalized for breathing in the foam and almost drowning themselves. Super scary because your swimming abilities will not save you when there’s 4 feet of foam above the water level.
Footage of the recovery efforts
https://youtu.be/vYFG0EUFa3M
That’s horrible.
Sounds so terrifying. Couldn’t really believe it when I first saw it. Do you know if anyone survived who was with them in the water?
I’m very sorry
One perspn of the group managed to swim out, he got picked up by the coastguard.
Confusion in the local media about the kitesurfers might be because we got a 10 to 1 ratio kjters to surfers.
Also a few kiteboards were found during the search. Adding to the confusion.
Kiters tend to loose their boards around here
With all of the division in the world caused by nationality and politics, it’s easy for us all to forget that surfers are an international brother/sisterhood. These deaths are a tragedy. Positive vibes to your local scene and the families of the victims.
Very sorry to hear of this Rens. Water, eh. Your friend one moment, your death the next.
Surfers?? Or Kite Surfers?? Tragic can’t even describe it. Can’t even fathom that many on a single day. RIP
Everything I could find said surfers. A kite surfer also died when he got whipped into a cement wall. I have never heard of such a toll.
Seems to be Kitesurfers (https://www.facebook.com/no…. Sometime last winter iirc there were also two kitesurfers killed who got smashed into the jetty during a storm.