Pierre Lotter, 23, and dogs found dead at sea, family thank search team

The family of Pierre Lotter, who drowned at sea, has expressed their gratitude to the search team for their bravery and support in helping bring closure after they recovered his body on Sunday.

Lotter, 23, from Kathu in the Northern Cape, went missing during a fishing outing at Kids Rock, Bloubergstrand, on May 14 with 47-year-old Willem Pretorius. They were accompanied by three dachshund dogs. The bodies of Pretorius and one dog were found last week. Lotter's two dogs were also found deceased on Sunday.

The National Sea Rescue Institute said it suspected the men had reached the rock at low tide to fish and tried to swim across the channel back to the beach before high tide at 8.30pm.

The family of the deceased said: "We were overwhelmed by the number of people who stopped what they were doing and rushed to help search for our missing son and his beloved dogs.

"Thank you to the emergency services on the scene for their tremendous efforts to resuscitate Willem.

"We are forever thankful to every individual who searched for Pierre and did not stop searching. We are very thankful that Pierre and his beloved dogs were found so the family can have closure.

"We can only express our deepest gratitude for your bravery to search for Pierre."

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