Trapped under a concrete slab and nearly drowning in a stream, a Havelock North farmer was able to send one-word text messages which led to his rescue.
Ken Miller, who is in his early 60s, was fixing a water pump in the Maraetotara Stream, near his Craggy Range Rd home, when he became pinned under a concrete slab yesterday.
Realising the life-threatening situation he was in, Mr Miller sent his friend Sandra Duthie brief texts that read "help", "in river" and "stuck".
Ms Duthie, who owns an education centre in Hastings, found Mr Miller "cold and in shock" with a "concrete lid" on his arm.
"He was jammed in there ... I was worried I was going to come here and find him drowned."