Farmer loses battle to revive his wife

A husband desperately tried to revive his wife after knocking her into a river while backing a trailer on their Northland farm yesterday.

The couple had been clearing flax along the banks of the Northern Wairoa River at Aratapu, south of Dargaville, when the drowning happened just after 11am.

Sergeant Anaru Roberts said the man backed a trailer and accidentally struck his wife, which made her fall into the river.

"He dived into the river and managed to locate her and bring her to the side of the bank, where he started CPR," said Mr Roberts. The man phoned for an ambulance and a doctor.

The woman, who has not been named but is aged in her mid-50s, was pronounced dead by a doctor at 11.45am.

"It's very sad and it is unusual circumstances. Here they are working together as husband and wife and this freak accident [happens]," said Mr Roberts.

Long-time Aratapu resident Liz Ashby said the couple moved there from Leigh two years ago and were developing the land together. They had added on to an existing bach.

She described the couple as "very, very close" and said the husband was "gutted".

He had worked as a fisherman before the couple moved north.

"He blames himself and we feel for him."