Lucky save for man who fell into the ocean

Passersby pulled the man from the water. Photo / Supplied

A Russian man in his 30s was plucked from the sea by passersby after he fell 4m from rocks at Muriwai yesterday afternoon.

Horse trainer Dean Lockwood, 50, was heading off fishing when he saw the victim slip and plunge into the sea.

"He slipped off the rocks like a wet seal, disappeared down a blowhole area and was sitting in waist-deep water," Lockwood said. "I shouted to two other guys to help me and we threw him down a life ring.

"I just knew he had bad head injuries."

Lockwood said he got into the water and put the flotation device around the man's waist before he was hauled to safety.

"By the time we got him out, the water was getting up to our necks. If it had been high tide, he would have been a goner." The man was airlifted to Auckland City Hospital by helicopter where he is being treated for head injuries and a broken leg.

"The rescuers did really well to get him out of the water," a spokesman for the Westpac rescue helicopter said.