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Two orchard workers risked their lives to save a colleague who fell through thin ice and nearly drowned.
Dominic Geers, 19, and Desmond Harborne, 46, made several attempts to climb across an ice-covered irrigation dam in Central Otago to rescue 29-year-old Sharn Siathaga.
Mr Siathaga was slowly losing all his feeling and was in the freezing water for more than 10 minutes before finally being pulled to safety.
Mr Harborne said he and Mr Geers had just done what they had to do. "We were not going to let a work colleague and friend go down just like that."
He said Mr Siathaga was repeatedly sinking and resurfacing and they were starting to feel desperate when their efforts to get him out failed.
"It was really scary crawling out on your hands and knees and hearing that ice cracking underneath you."
Mr Siathaga, who had talked about walking across ice for the past few days, had started picking his way across the frozen 50m-wide dam near Cromwell about 8.30am yesterday.
About two-thirds of the way across, the ice began cracking. He tried to run to other side but tripped and fell through the thin layer.
After his friends tried to reach him several times, Molyneux Management general manager Tim Jones and colleague Graham Pitson arrived in response to a call from Mr Harborne.
Mr Jones and Mr Harborne tied a hose to a piece of timber and worked their way out on the ice using a pallet to spread their weight.
They managed to get close enough to throw the timber across the ice to Mr Siathaga.
"He screamed and yelled, 'Help me, help me", Mr Harborne said.
Although his hands were numb, Mr Siathaga was able to wrap his arms around the piece of timber and hold on as the men on shore pulled him across the ice to safety.
Mr Jones estimated the air temperature to be at least minus 5C and the water much colder.
Cromwell Fire Service senior station officer John Searle said Mr Siathaga was very cold.
They quickly undressed him and wrapped him in Fire Service clothing, which was thermally protective, and put him in a police car.
Mr Siathaga was taken to the Cromwell medical centre with moderate to serious hypothermia.
He was transferred to Dunstan Hospital to be warmed up using intravenous saline solutions, and was discharged yesterday afternoon.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
