Members of the public desperately tried to revive an elderly man after his mobility scooter veered into a Bay of Plenty river this morning.
Emergency services were called to the incident near the bridge over the Whakatane River, off Landing Rd, about 9.50am.
Landing Rd resident Ivana Singh was alerted when someone desperately banged on her window and yelled to call for an ambulance.
"They said there was a man who had fallen into the river and he's not breathing. I asked my husband to call 111 and I ran to the river.
"When I got there two gentlemen had already dragged him out of the water and they were doing CPR. I'm not sure how long he had been in the water."