BOYS SAVE COUPLE

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30636, 30 December 1964, Page 1

BOYS SAVE COUPLE

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Dec. 29.

Three boys today rescued an elderly couple in difficulties in the sea off Onetangi. The man had pulled a young child to safety only seconds before he heard his wife calling for help and he got into difficulties when he went to her assistance.

The boys, aged 12 and 13, fought the current and waves

to drag the couple 60 yards to safety. There were few people on the beach at the time. The rescuers are Philip Scott, aged 12, his 13-year-old brother, Gordon, and Warwick Gair, aged 12. Gordon and'Philip live with their parents at Beach road, Onetangi. Warwick is an Auckland visitor staying at the beach with his parents and family. He holds an intermediate life-saving medal. The man, Harry Edmondson, of Beach road, Onetangi, said he and his wife were standing in water up to their chins when a small girl, aged about seven, called out for help. She was only a few yards away and he went to her assistance.

“She had a little kickboard but she could not hang on to it,” he said. “I helped her into the shallow water and looked around. My wife called out, “I’m in deep water, help, quick, Harry.’ ” Mr Edmondson said the girl had drifted out on the board and he and his wife must have been caught in the rip. “I tried to push my wife ashore with my hands, but I am not a strong swimmer.” “The boys probably saved my life. “I would have had an awful struggle to get that last little bit.”

Mr and Mrs Edmondson, exhausted when rescued, were attended by a doctor. They have now recovered.