Taste for plums life-saver for boy
A Carterton couple’s snap decision to pick a few plums ended up saving a little boy’s life.
Paula and Ed Bailey went swimming at the Waiohine River near their home in rural Carterton on January 14. When they finished, they spotted a plum tree and decided to pick a few.
‘‘We were leaving when I heard a real hullabaloo,’’ reluctant heroine Paula revealed this week. ‘‘I heard a woman screaming.
‘‘I couldn’t understand what she was saying but then realised she was screaming: My baby, my baby.’’
Two young boys had been trying to cross a small rapid when the younger one slipped, too far into the river for the mother to reach.
The Baileys quickly reversed their ute towards the river and Paula leapt out.
‘‘I got to the edge and saw [the boy] floating face down along the rapid.
‘‘I ran into the water and it got deep quite quickly, to the point where I was swimming.
‘‘I was thinking I had to grab him, otherwise he’d be swept right down the river.
‘‘I pushed myself toward him and was able to grab him. Ed by this time was just behind me and reached past and flipped him over on to his back.’’
The boy burst out crying as they pulled him from the water.
Paula said she was relieved to hear him cry, because she had expected to be doing resuscitation to try to save him.
‘‘He looked about 4 years old,’’ she said.
They thought little more of the incident.
‘‘Ed said in the ute on the way back that he thought we deserved a cup of tea. I said I might have a coffee and a dash [of spirits].’’
But their friends contacted Stuff, keen for their efforts to be more widely appreciated.
‘‘You just react, you don’t stop to think,’’ Paula said. ‘‘You’d like to think anyone would do the same thing.’’
Water Safety NZ chief executive Jonty Mills said last year was terrible for under-5 deaths, with seven preventable drownings, each a heartbreaking tragedy.
Constant active adult supervision of children swimming was vital, he said. It took less than a minute for a child to drown.
‘‘Older children should never supervise little ones. Supervision is the responsibility of an adult and distractions like mobile phones need to be avoided.
‘‘The only way to keep our precious little ones safe around water is constant active adult supervision at all times.’’