Awarding local guardians

Andre Fletcher and Ian Wienburg accept the R30 000 prize money from Centrum. From left to right: Nolene Kies, Brand Manager for Wyeth Consumer Healthcare; Andre Fletcher, winner of the 2008 Centrum Guardian Project; Ian Wienburg, Chief Executive for the NSRI and Sue Cartwright, Marketing Manager for Wyeth Consumer Healthcare.

Fletcher won R10 000 for himself and R30 000 for the NSRI KwaZulu-Natal base station, and was the entrant honoured out of a group of many other selfless individuals who also performed courageous deeds. The sponsor wishes to thank everyone who supported this campaign by voting.

Andre Fletcher's story

On the afternoon of Tuesday, 17 June 2008, a 10m yacht with three crew was caught in Force 7 gales and 4m swells, with heavy rain squalls about 75km south of Durban. The NSRI Station 5 Brede rescue boat was launched, but due to the appalling weather, made very slow progress. It was then decided to attempt a helicopter rescue. Fletcher volunteered to be the rescue swimmer.

On arriving over the yacht, after a fight in appalling weather, its three crewmembers were told to jump overboard as a rescue directly from the deck was too dangerous. Fletcher was lowered into the sea, but the terrified crew had stayed on board. Fletcher was hoisted back into the helicopter and the yacht's crew were again directed to jump overboard, one at a time, and Fletcher went down again to complete the mission. Two of the crew were rescued while the third, the last to jump, was swimming with difficulty towards Fletcher, who had to swim through the rough seas in order to save the person's life.

Fletcher acted with courage and was concerned with saving the three people in distress Thanks to his efforts and those of the helicopter crew, the rescue was a complete success.