AN EXCITING TIME

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIV, 20 December 1926, Page 7

AN EXCITING TIME

STRUGGLE WITH BREAKERS AND CURRENT. A SERIOUS PREDICAMENT. (Per Press Association —Copyright. ' AUCKLAND, this day. At Munwai beach, early Sunday afternoon, there was a desperate struggle for life by five men who had been swept out to sea, and only regained safety after a two; hours' fight with the breakers and treacherous current. At one o’clock a swimmer came ashore for assistance for his <amnpanion, Jack Mead, of Khyber Pass Road, who could be seen a long distance from the shore. Harry Dean, and Leonard Williams, volunteered to essay a rescue with Lifebelts. The lifesavers reached Mead and gave him a belt, T>ut being caught in the current, all three could make no headway.

Realising that his son was in danger. Williams, the father, and James Preston, went out with an other rope. Preston was swept off his feet and lost a grip of the line tied round Williams senior's waist. Both men were carried out beyond the other trio, and soon were struggling a mile from the beach. The fact that all hands were good swimmers alone prevented loss of life, all five eventually reaching the shore by grimly sticking to the stern task of the battle with a swift current.