17 year old Andrew Field was first on the scene and dragged the children to safety. Photo / Supplied
17 year old Andrew Field was first on the scene and dragged the children to safety. Photo / Supplied
Andrew Field waded into a freezing cold river in the dark to rescue three children from an upside-down car as their father lay dead.
The 17-year-old diesel mechanic apprentice was driving home to Greymouth from Reefton on Sunday night about 8.20pm when he noticed debris on a bridge.
He stopped to investigate and saw that a car was half-submerged in the Otututu (Rough) River, having crashed through the wooden railings of the bridge on Atarau Rd.
A crashed vehicle lies on its roof in the bed of the Otututu River. The driver died but three young children survived. Photo / Greymouth Star
He called the police, then drove his ute down into the riverbed and through the swift-flowing river to get to the car, which was near the far side of the water.
He then helped the three boys, aged 11, 9 and 6, out of the smashed-up car.
"I threw them on the bank and chucked them in the ute and drove out."
Ryan Davy took the children to his house and got them warm again. Photo / Supplied
Meanwhile, Ikamatua farm worker and married father of two Ryan Davy was on his way home from the local hotel when he saw lights in the riverbed and went to check. He arrived about five minutes after Field.
He drove the children to his nearby house, where they stayed for two hours.
"I just took the kids. They were freezing from being in the water. I chucked them in a hot bath and waited till the ambulance took them."
Davy said the three children, all boys, were badly shaken.
"The oldest boy was all scratched up but there was nothing obviously wrong with him. He was the worst out of them but still all right.
"The young fella that got the kids out. He was the one that saved those kids' lives."
Asked about his heroic act, Field said: "People say I should feel like a hero, but it's hard to feel like that when you know the boys are going to grow up with no father."
He said the children would have been at risk of drowning in the car had rain fallen in the river's headwaters after the crash.
Had they managed to escape the wreck, the fast-flowing river, which joins the Grey River about 3km from the bridge, could have swept them away.
The boys' father, Tamati James Rae, 32, of Kaikoura, was found dead when emergency services arrived at the crash site.
Rae and his children had been visiting family in Hokitika at the weekend and were on their way back to Kaikoura when they crashed on Atarau Rd, north of the Pike River Mine turn-off.
Senior Sergeant Brent Cook, of the Greymouth police, said the children were taken to Grey Base Hospital for observation and were later released into the care of family members.
Police were thankful for the actions of Field, who had saved the lives of the children, and Ryan, who gave them comfort and shelter after the crash.
"This has been an extremely traumatic event for all those involved, and police and Victim Support are continuing to support them," Cook said.
