Durban Beach Rescue

With unpredictable conditions, the lifeguards have zero tolerance for fools, particularly anyone who chooses to swim outside the demarcated area.

South Africa's high school graduates go to Umhlanga Beach after partying, but this beach is plagued with hidden rocks and strong rips. The team act quickly when a man is washed up on the shore with a suspected spinal injury.

The Wedge is the most dangerous beach on Durban's shoreline, with an unstable sand bank. Yet this doesn't deter the thousands of bathers who flock here, many of whom are unable to swim.

The Day of Reconciliation, the first public holiday of summer, sees crowds of 150,000 holidaymakers on the beach. The Wedge team rescue a bather, deal with a case of alleged sexual harassment and take care of an unconscious woman.

A lifeguard-in-training faces her demons, a fear of big waves. Three Korean tourists lose control of their canoe and drift out to sea near the shark nets. A surfer and lifeguard struggle to rescue a five-year-old girl.