Source: Radio New Zealand
He saved the family from the water in Kai Iwi Lakes in Northland. RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The man who rescued a family from the water in Kai Iwi Lakes in Northland says he’s not a hero and he would do it for anyone.
Haruru man Aaron Stott was walking along the beach last month with his family when they saw two kids in the water, and something “didn’t look right”.
He watched as their mother ran into the water, screaming, and dropped under the surface.
Stott pulled the mother and child out of the water before hearing screaming and shouting from the shore.
“Someone said to me ‘no, there’s two more’,” he told RNZ.
Stott turned around but was unable see anyone else, so he dived down and found a father and child at the bottom of the lake.
“One boy was just sitting there and the father was trying to get back up, but it was like he was moving in slow motion,” he said.
“I managed to dive down and grab them and bring both of them back up.”
When he and others got the pair back to shore, the boy was blue, Stott said.
” got him up on the beach, and put him in the recovery position and whacked his back a bit, and he wasn’t really responding,” he said.
The child suddenly took a deep breath and started breathing again.
“Ten seconds either way, they wouldn’t have made it,” Stott said.
Stott said he was comfortable in the water and had spent his younger days surfing.
“It’s a bit hard when you’re trying to take two people out of the water,” he said.
Stott said after the rescue, he was thinking of all the things in his day that had led him to that moment.
“It was a pretty strange feeling really.”
He said he wasn’t worried for his own safety; he just had to get them out of the water.
“I just knew I had to get them up, I didn’t even think about it really.”
Police Senior Sergeant Dave Wilkinson described Stott as a hero, but that was not how he saw himself.
“I would do it for anyone, you know, I’d do it for anyone that was in trouble or anyone that needed help, I would help them,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a hero, I guess I just don’t want to see people suffering at the end of the day.”
He hoped his story would encourage others to be safe around water.
“If it stops anyone else going in the water, I’d be grateful,” Stott said.
Working as a chef, Stott said this evening, he was preparing dinner for the Prime Minister.
Water Safety NZ’s Gavin Walker said the rescue was incredible, but he wanted people to know how risky it can be.
“When you have a situation like this and your first instinct is to react, just take a few seconds to scan the situation,” he said.
“The safest way to help people is to try and do it from land or from something else like a boat.”
Walker suggests throwing a boogie board, throwing a rope or getting someone in a boat to help out in a situation like that.
“If you make the call that you have to go in, none of those options are there, make sure you have a quick look at the conditions to make sure that you’re not putting yourself into a situation that you might not be able to cope for,” he said.
“Super important if you’re going in the water, make sure you take some form of floatation with you, so that could be somebody’s chilly bin from nearby, a chilly bin lid, a ball, a boogie board, a life jacket. Actually having something with you that’ll help you float when you try and help this other person out can make the difference between life and death in these situations.”
Walker hoped those people getting out in the water over the long weekend would be mindful of the dangers.
“Tragically, we’ve seen 16 New Zealanders already lose their lives in the water since the start of the year, and this weekend looks like it’s going to be an amazing long weekend,” he said.
“So as Kiwis go out and make the most of their time in the water, make sure they’re thinking and acting safely so that everybody comes home after the long weekend.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
