Tourists in deep water but waka comes to rescue
Emergency services rescued a family from a half-submerged campervan in the dark using a waka ama canoe.
About 7.30pm on Tuesday the campervan was accidentally driven through a barrier at a carpark beside Henley Lake in Masterton and proceeded to float away with a man and his four children aboard. The mother was still onshore as the situation unfolded.
Senior Sergeant Mike Sutton was one of the first on the scene.
‘‘When I talked to the lady and she said: they’re still in there; I thought: oh my god,’’ he said.
A firefighter waded out to the campervan, which had taken on water and settled on the bottom of the lake about 20 metres from shore.
Masterton Fire Service station officer Garry Nielson was part of the crew that rescued the family with a racing outrigger canoe. ‘‘[Firefighter] Tony Gibbs went out and got in there and made sure they were OK, which they were. They were all standing up on the counters in the back of the camper.’’ Nielson said it was fortunate they remembered the waka ama was stored nearby.
‘‘I knew it was there and between the police and the rest of my guys we got it over to the carpark and in the water.
‘‘We put some at the back and some at the front and they pulled along the rope and managed to get it in position and brought the family back in the same way,’’ Nielson said.
The water in which the fire crew were operating was extremely cold and the father of the four children, aged 3 to 16 years, was also in the water to help his children into the canoe, Sutton said.
The family’s reaction was that of relief that they were safe even though all their possessions were still in the vehicle.
‘‘After they were all safely onshore we got them warm and sheltered and somewhere to stay for the night,’’ Sutton said.
The family, who were on holiday from Australia, stayed in a motel in Masterton overnight.
The campervan was left in the lake overnight with the rental company arranging salvage yesterday.