With minutes to spare
Parademics in makeshift rescue of man drowning in mud
A pair of paramedics “stripped down to their jocks” and swam out to save a man trapped in mud after falling from his tinnie in waters off the Gold Coast.
Details have emerged about the dramatic rescue of the man off the Coast from Jacobs Well on Monday, with his rescuers admitting they had to act or “watch the man drown”.
Peter Carrie and Eden Venturato from Mermaid Waters ambulance station were called to the scene about 4.30pm on Monday after the man in his 60s fell from his small boat between Tabby Tabby and Eden islands. The duo described the man as wedged in the mud and leaning backwards as a fast flowing tide was inundating him.
“The man had been in the water for around three hours before we arrived,” Mr Carrie said.
“We had only been on scene for about 10 minutes and there was a fast flowing tide coming through – it raised about six inches in no time.”
The paramedics called for a rescue helicopter but were unable to get an estimated arrival time. They made a makeshift flotation device using spinal boards and life jackets to assist the man who was within minutes of being completely submerged by the rising tide.
“He was in a precarious position so we decided to take to the water, strip down to the jocks and out we went,” Mr Carrie said.
“It was time critical – we had to actually get into the water otherwise we would’ve watched this man drown.”
The pair tied themselves off a Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) boat, swimming across to the man who was around 55m from the boat.
They were able to get the man on to the raft within 10 minutes, as water was lapping around his shoulders.
“Within five to 10 minutes it would have been not a good situation,” Mr Carrie said.
Ms Venturato added they had to venture through 55m of mud and murky water to reach him: “Once we swam across to the mud we were kind of on our knees with the board between us.
“We just had to shuffle forward and pull it, shuffle forward and pull it again until we got there – we were pretty exhausted by the end.”
Once he was pulled from the mud and on the carrier a rope was tied off the VMR boat connecting the makeshift flotation device to the vessel.
“We had the boys on the boat calling out ‘one, two, three,’ and all pulling together into a safer area where the water wasn’t coming up,” Ms Venturato said.
The pair were with the man for about 10 minutes when the rescue chopper arrived, winching the man from the water. He was transported to hospital in a serious but stable condition.
“Lucky they came when they did because it was going to be a 30 to 40 minute trip back to our ambulance and another 30 to hospital. He needed immediate support,” Ms Venturato said.
The rescue team added: “It’s just good we didn't get any little bullsharks coming up to our toes – it was dark, muddy water at dusk … the sun had gone down at that point and by the time we got back to the vessel there was no mud left.”
Ms Venturato said the man, known as Wayne, was incredibly grateful. “Pete said ‘you owe us a carton’ and he said ‘I’ll buy you the whole liquor store’.”
“Within five minutes it would not have been good
Peter Carrie Hero paramedic