Disclaimer: This story includes mention of drowning.
Cresta famously pulls out all of the stops when it comes to making the magic happen for its visitors, especially during the festive season. If it’s not an enchanting lights and life-sized bauble display, it’s a giant tank built especially for mermaids.
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The ‘Mall Mermaids’, dressed in shimmering tails and adorned with shells and pearls, gracefully swim about a 4-meter deep tank – shared with a 1.2-meter eel, amongst other fish – in the middle of the shopping centre. To accompany the mermaids at their shows, a scuba diver waits on standby to keep everyone safe.
Recently, a video that went viral on social media shows a Mall Mermaid show taking an unfortunate turn when professional Mermaid, Nokukhanya, got her tail caught in the tank’s decor.
I just know she quitted after this 😭 pic.twitter.com/iSuDzyaLlM
— NATE (@NATERERUN) November 26, 2023
In the video, we see a peaceful Nokukhanya gracefully swimming about in the tank before her face reflects panic, as she gets her costume’s tail caught on the edge of the tank’s coral decor.
Attached to her constricted tail, Nokukhanya starts to lose air from her lungs as she tries to yank herself loose.
Thankfully, every professional mermaid knows how to make a safe ejection – at least according to Nokukhanya’s standard.
Moments after finding herself stuck, the experienced swimmer expertly ejected herself out from her costume and up to safety, where she regained oxygen.
Nokukhanya came out unscathed, but still took to social media to address the footage of herself, which had since gone viral.
In her response to the viral video, Nokukhanya said in a voiceover:
“Hi everyone, Nokukhanya The Sister Mermaid here. Just an explanation for the unfortunate de-robing. As you can see, my tail got caught in the coral, and due to the air releasing out of my lungs, I was not able to retrieve it, and therefore I did a quick release and this is what we practice for.”
@nokukhanya.the_mermaid Replying to @jax6804 Remember Water Has its Dangers Every Professional Mermaid has to know how to eject out of their tails in case of an emergency. It’s unfortunate that it spoilt the magic in the moment, but it proves to be an important teaching opportunity. Safe swimming this festive season everyone 💛🧜🏽♀️💛 #mermaid #watersaftey #watersafteyawareness #mermaids ♬ Sunny – TELL YOUR STORY music by Ikson™
Thankfully, Nokukhanya’s mermaid training saw her through to safety. In the caption of the TikTok post, she wrote:
“Remember water has its dangers. Every Professional Mermaid has to know how to eject out of their tails in case of an emergency.”
Nokukhanya concludes by echoing the important message of safe swimming. She says:
“It’s unfortunate that it spoilt the magic in the moment, but it proves to be an important teaching opportunity. Safe swimming this festive season everyone 💛🧜🏽♀️💛”
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Feature Image: TikTok / @nokukhanya.the_mermaid
