Beach pair save a life

Two people yesterday saved a man who was pulled from water at Milford Beach unconscious and not breathing.

North Shore City Council beach patrol officer Tiffany Leeder saw the man in difficulty a few metres from shore. She raced into the chest-deep water and found him unconscious and blue in the face.

An off-duty police officer who was going for a run on the beach helped drag him ashore. They performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the man resumed breathing after four or five minutes.

He was able to respond to ambulance staff, who took him to North Shore Hospital. He was transferred to Auckland Hospital in a critical condition last night.

* A body believed to be that of a Morrinsville man swept off rocks near Waihi Beach on Monday was found washed ashore yesterday.

A police spokesman said the body was found at the northern end of Waihi Beach by searchers and family of the missing man about 6.30pm.

He said he could not confirm it was that of the 26-year-old.

Searchers yesterday also found the body of Steven Robinson, 13, missing since a boat capsized off the eastern Bay of Plenty on Saturday.

- STAFF REPORTER, NZPA