Drunken adventure ends in near-tragedy

When Savannah Davies was swept down-river during a rescue, she thought she was a goner.

‘‘It was pretty scary, I could hear the fireman gurgling water.’’

The 19-year-old was a passenger in a vehicle that got stuck about 20 metres into the Ashley River, close to the Cones Rd bridge near Rangiora, while fourwheel-driving about 10.40pm on Saturday.

A police spokeswoman said the driver, a 22-year-old man, was breath-tested at the scene and was over the limit.

He will appear in Christchurch District Court on November 24.

There were four people in the truck with the water up to the windows of the truck and still rising when they got stranded.

‘‘It was obviously misjudged, we thought it was a lot shallower than it was,’’ Davies said.

After getting stuck, Davies thought a nearby truck would be able to pull them out, but it got stranded as well. The second driver abandoned his vehicle and got back to the riverbank safely.

Davies called her dad who, with his best mate, Nick Torrance, headed to the river to try rescue the group.

When they got there, it was clear they were not going to be able to help and called emergency services about 11.45pm.

By that time, the stranded group had climbed out the windows and onto the roof.

Firefighters tried to rescue Davies first. She started to walk towards a fireman as he waded into the river to get her, but the water was too fast and they both lost their footing.

‘‘It was so scary. I thought I was a goner.’’

They floated about 30m before Torrance jumped in and grabbed them.

Firefighters attached a rope to the stranded vehicle to help them rescue the remaining three people.

Torrance said the moment Davies went into the water was ‘‘pretty terrifying’’.

‘‘I went running over, managed to get in the water a bit and grab onto them,’’ he said.

Rangiora Fire Brigade chief fire officer Hamish Peter said the officer and Davies emerged wet and cold but unharmed.

‘‘Once they found their footing it was fine, but he just went downstream with the girl for that short distance,’’ Peter said.

Environment Canterbury data shows the volume of water in the river was up to 10 times higher than normal due to recent rainfall.

‘‘It was obviously misjudged. We thought it was a lot shallower than it was.’’