Young rugby star drowns at Oanob

A SWIM to cool down at the Lake Oanob resort west of Rehoboth on Saturday afternoon turned into tragedy when a 19-year-old boy drowned.

According to the Police, Lou Rickerts, who had completed Grade 12 last year, went for an afternoon swim at the popular swimming spot when catastrophe struck. Witnesses said Rickerts’ friends were already on land when he suddenly had a cramp in his leg and could no longer swim to shore. His friends immediately jumped back into the water to try and save him, but his body was too heavy and he sank to the bottom. The drowning marked a double tragedy for the Reho Falcon Rugby Club, of which Rickerts was a popular player. The club lost its chairperson, Alex van der Bergh, early last week in a horrific collision outside Okahandja.According to Rehoboth Inspector Marschell Diergaardt, Rickerts was a ‘very good rugby player’ who had played fly-half for Namibia’s Craven Week team in 2011. Rickerts completed his schooling at Dr Lemmer High School in Rehoboth. Rickerts’s uncle, Neil Moller, yesterday told The Namibian that his nephew was to depart for South Africa later this month, where he would have begun his studies and continued his rugby career at the Griqualand West Rugby Union. He also had an offer from Stellenbosch Rugby Football Club to study sports management.A resort employee yesterday said that the incident took place close to the Lake Oanob restaurant and was witnessed by several people. ‘It was a terrible incident,” she said. Although weekends are quite busy with day visitors, she said the resort was eerily quiet yesterday following the drowning.She said the police divers estimated the spot where Rickerts drowned was 5,7 metres deep. The divers retrieved his body from the lake yesterday afternoon. Rickerts is survived by his parents, two brothers and a sister.