'Immaculate' rescue for swimmer

Surf Lifesavers Russell Neill and Richard Kannemeyer. Photo / Michael Craig

Mark Adam was, to all intents and purposes, dead for 15 minutes.

The 28-year-old had no pulse for that long after getting in trouble swimming off Mangawhai Heads beach.

A member of the public found him unconscious about 200m north of the lifeguards' flagged area on January 30 and raised the alarm. The time was 12.42pm.

When surf lifeguards arrived, Adam was "status zero", according to Mangawhai Heads Volunteer Lifeguard Service club captain Tony Baker - meaning he was not breathing and had no pulse.

Ten surf lifeguards, including several teenage volunteers, sprung into action with CPR, a defibrillator to deliver shocks to the patient's heart and oxygen pumped into his body through a mask.

After several sets of compressions Adam vomited and was immediately rolled on to his side and was afterwards rolled back to be checked for signs of life.

But none were found, so two more sets of compressions were given, said the Surf Life Saving incident report.

It was not till 12.57pm - when Adam received a third shock - that he showed the first signs of life.

A "faint pulse and rise and fall of patient's chest was found", said the report.

"It's like a giant twitch. There were odd noises and then he drifted in and out of consciousness," said lifeguard Russell Neill, 23, who was involved in the rescue.

Adam was then flown by rescue helicopter to Whangarei Hospital for further treatment.

This week, he was well enough to send an email to one of his rescuers. Adam said the days following the accident had been a blur and he was thankful to all of the lifeguards involved.

Surf Life Saving officials have described the rescue as "immaculate".

"They couldn't have done anything better," said Baker.

Patrol captain Richard Kannemeyer, who was in charge of the rescue, said it was an amazing team effort.

"To go from where we were and not looking like it was going to be successful and to have that outcome was an amazing effort," he said.

The rescue was one of the biggest at the beach for several years, and it showed the value of surf lifeguard training, said Baker.

" To have such a young team of volunteers put together a response that saved a life is just amazing."

The following day, friends of the victim presented the club with a card and made a donation to say thank you for saving Adam's life.