SA Rescue - Out Alive

Two young adventurers set out to abseil Tugela Falls in the Northern Drakensberg in KwaZulu-Natal as part of a source-to-sea expedition. It's a descent that only a handful of people have completed. But when their attempt went wrong in February 2024, the pair found themselves stranded for two nights on one of the world’s tallest waterfalls, exhausted and running out of options. As conditions became...

Rain had been falling for days when the Umgeni River burst through Tin Town, a Durban settlement home to hundreds of former indentured labourers. Families were trapped as floodwaters tore through the community. Then a group of civilian volunteers stepped into the raging river to help save those caught in the disaster. This historical rescue is told through the work of local author and filmmaker Vi...

In the winter of 2007, one of KwaZulu-Natal’s worst fire seasons swept through parts of the province, with wildfires tearing through land in the Zululand District. As firefighting teams on the ground and in the air moved in to contain the flames, they were forced to respond to another urgent situation. This episode captures the coordination, pressure and split-second decisions involved in wildfire...

A packed beach. A sudden rip current. And in seconds, dozens of people are in trouble. In this episode of SA Rescue: Out Alive, two Durban lifeguards take you inside the moments that change everything. Sisanda Mvuyana relives a mass rescue at North Beach in December 2022, when a powerful current swept bathers out to sea and more than 20 rescuers raced to pull people back. Jabulile Ndlovu shares th...

A fisherman paddling along the Umgeni River hears desperate shouting. The voice isn’t coming from the water or the riverbank. It’s coming from high above, on the girders of Durban’s Connaught Bridge, where a man has somehow become trapped. With the man stranded near the middle of a pillar and no easy way to reach him, rescuers are forced into a complex recovery operation. This episode tells the st...

Two climbers were on the summit of a mountain near the KwaZulu-Natal border when a violent storm rolled in. Their ropes jammed 30 metres into their descent. Temperatures dropped. And getting down became far more dangerous than getting up. As darkness closed in, they were left stranded high on the rock face, with no clear way to safety. * SA Rescue: Out Alive is researched, written and narrated by...

You may remember the headlines. You may not know what really happened. SA Rescue: Out Alive, hosted by Newswatch anchors Natarah Nadesan and Dineo Mphahlele, revisits real South African rescues and tells the story in full. Through interviews, research and sound design, each episode brings you closer to the people who were there. Season 1 launches 25 February 2026. Follow now.