Fisherman in right place at right time saves boy
WHAKATANE: The mother who had her 18monthold son plucked from the ocean by a fisherman said the incident felt like a nightmare and her heart stopped beating.
Jessica Whyte told Stuff she was woken by the camp manager at Matata Beach, near Whakatane, to the news her son had been found floating in the sea.
Ms Whyte said the news felt like a sick joke when she was told at 7.30am and it was ‘‘horrible in between hearing that and seeing him’’.
‘‘I don’t think my heart [beat] from hearing that to seeing him. I don’t think my heart worked,’’ she said.
Gus Hutt, who had been fishing at the beach, said the toddler had looked like a porcelain doll.
‘‘As he floated past I thought he was just a doll,’’ Mr Hutt said.
‘‘So, I reached out and grabbed him by the arm; even then I still thought it was just a doll.
‘‘His face looked just like porcelain with his short hair wetted down, but then he let out a little squeak and I thought ‘Oh God this is a baby and it’s alive’.’’
It was simply luck that Mr
Hutt was there to save the boy, who had escaped from his parents’ tent at Murphy’s Holiday Camp early on October 26.
The toddler had pulled the zip up on the parents’ tent while they were sleeping and crawled underneath the flap before making his way down to the beach.
Usually, Mr Hutt heads straight out from the camp to fish from the beach, but that day he decided to walk 100m to the left, towards Tauranga.
After returning to check his lines at 7.15am, he saw the seemingly lifeless baby floating in the water.
‘‘He was floating at a steady pace with a rip in the water. If I hadn’t been there, or if I had just been a minute later I wouldn’t have seen him,’’ said Hutt.
‘‘He was bloody lucky, but he just wasn’t meant to go; it wasn’t his time.’’
Mr Hutt’s wife, Sue, ran to the parents’ tent after the holiday camp managers said they were the only ones staying with a baby.
Ms Whyte described the entire ordeal as terrifying.
‘‘It was scary but he was breathing, he was alive,’’ she said.
‘‘Oh God, it was amazing seeing him. ‘‘I gave him a big hug.’’ Emergency services arrived with the Matata Volunteer Fire Brigade, treating the boy for 15 minutes before an ambulance arrived to take him to Whakatane Hospital.
The Hutts were still a little shaken after the incident, but were grateful Mr Hutt was there at the right time.