Boy found blue and near lifeless

Thomas Watson and his daughter Jasmine take a dip in the Mangatainoka River minutes before he and his brother Daniel hauled a near lifeless boy from the rapids in the background. PHOTO/BROGAN RIWAI

A 12-year-old boy was saved from drowning at the weekend after being hauled blue and near lifeless from the bottom of a Wairarapa river.

Pahiatua mother Brogan Riwai said she and her partner Daniel Watson and brother-in-law Thomas Watson had taken their dogs for a walk and swim on Saturday in the nearby Mangatainoka River that runs just beyond the end of her street.

The trio arrived about 2pm at a stretch of the river where a group of children aged from about nine to 14 were swimming, playing and jumping into the fast-flowing water.

"There were a lot of kids there. We counted 10 of them and noticed there were no adults with them. We thought we may as well hang around for a bit and my nephew was there, so he joined them.

"We did another head count and there was still 10 kids. My partner noticed out the corner of his eye a kid that went in, but hadn't come back up, he said.

"We sat there arguing for a little while whether he was seeing things or not.

"I told them to have a look near the rapids and sure enough, he saw the boy in the middle of the river, on the bottom, by the rapids," she said.

Ms Riwai called emergency services and a St John Ambulance crew headed to the scene. Daniel Watson hauled the boy from the river, she said, and his brother Thomas had to help with the retrieval because the strong current was dragging them towards the white water.

"Daniel had the boy in his arms and his brother had to keep pushing him along because there was no way he was going to get out by himself, " Ms Riwai said.

"That boy was dead when they got him out. He was completely blue, all of his body was blue, and he was flopped over in their arms. I told the other kids to stay by me because I thought he was dead.

"They did CPR and it took three goes to resuscitate him. Daniel pushed on his chest and Tom blew air into his lungs. I was on the phone to St John's when they brought him round. He was just breathing and shivering when the ambulance turned up about 20 minutes later but he wasn't responding to any talking or anything," she said.

The boy had been under the water "for at least five minutes", she said, and his rescuers were still dealing with the aftermath of the critical moments that had saved his life.

"He was dead when they finally got to him, and Daniel and Tom have both had nightmares about trying to pull the boy out but being a few seconds too late, and losing him to the rapids."

Ms Riwai said most of the group of children were pupils from Hillcrest School in Pahiatua.

She was surprised there was no adult supervision of the children who were swimming.

The boy was still recovering from his near-fatal ordeal and Ms Riwai and her partner were yet to speak to him.