A SMART RESCUE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 91, 1 April 1932, Page 9

A SMART RESCUE

THREE YOUNG WOMEN SAVED FROM DROWNING. CARRIED OUT TO SEA. Christchurch, March 30. Caught in a current that was sweeping strongly away from the shore, three young women, floating on an inflated tube and helpless against the drift, had a narrow escape from drowning at the Waikaku Beach on Monday afternoon. It was only the prompt action of two yoking men, who battled for half-an-liour in a heavy surf, that saved them. When their plight was first noticed the women w-ere about 70 yards from the shore. Three bathers, including the two young men who rescued them, and an elderly man, immediately rushed to the reel and attempted to - carry the line out. The elderly man became exhausted by the severe buffeting of the breakers, and he had to be carried in. One of the young men tried then to carry the line out himself, but it was too heavy. His companion came to his assistance and supported the line, while the other forced a slow and unpleasant passage through the breakers to the drifting tube and its occupants. He succeeded in attaching the belt to the tube, and it was hauled in. Between the time the alarm was given and the time the girls had been brought to the beach 35 minutes claused. The women themselves were very exhausted when they landed, and one was on the point of collapse, but they quickly recovered from the effects of their distinctly unpleasant experience.