Rescue right out of the movies

Casey Church, Nicole Flaws and Pani Awarau were lucky to be rescued. Photo / Jason Dorday

Movie stuntmen saved three friends this week after two of them were swept down rapids and over a waterfall as dam gates were opened.

Casey Church, Nicole Flaws and Pani Awarau planned to swim in the Waikato River, just north of Taupo, on Thursday. As they crossed the river at 4pm the floodgates on the Aratiatia Dam opened. Awarau was halfway across as the water rose. "It was so fast, it took about two seconds," she said.

The water quickly submerged the stepping stones Awarau was walking on. "We were just joking 'Okay, where do I step next,' and then I actually realised that I'm going to die."

Flaws was terrified for her friend, but was caught also up in the white water. "She was stuck on a rock and I could see the water just rising and rising. I couldn't just stand there and watch. I put my leg in the water and tried to put my hand out to her - but the pressure was too strong and I got swept away."

Awarau lost her grip soon after, and the pair were washed 400m downriver, over two rapids and a 5m waterfall. Church, meanwhile, was left clutching a rock.

Fortunately, just downstream, the crew of Hollywood movie Yogi Bear was filming a rafting scene. When the alarm was raised, the crew swung into action.

Location manager Peta Sinclair called the powerstation to close the dam gates and stem the flow, while safety crew Tim Willis, in a kayak, and Damian Molloy, wearing a lifejacket and fins, raced to rescue the struggling women.

Molloy, a lifeguard at Muriwai Beach since 1982, was the first to reach Awarau and Flaws. He had to swim against the current and keep Awarau afloat until help arrived.

A second, bigger, waterfall was a short distance downstream and Molloy said it would likely have proved fatal.

"If we hadn't shut the gates and got them out of there they wouldn't have made it."

The pair escaped with relatively minor injuries, with Awarau suffering only a gash to her foot. "Our legs got a bit munched, but no broken bones," said Flaws.

The film crew dropped the pair at a production tent where they were served hot chocolate and biscuits and the shoot was resumed in such a rush that the relieved women never learned the names of their rescuers.

Flaws wanted to thank the crew: "We wouldn't have got out of there without you. I was hanging on for life at the end."

But Molloy denied he was a hero. "No. I'm just a lifesaver. I've also got a busy summer coming up on the beach."

Church was trapped on a rock for about an hour until the water subsided enough to reach safety.

Taupo police senior constable Barry Shepherd said it was remarkable lives weren't lost. "As locals I thought they might have known better. I guess it's the sort of thing you'd expect tourists to do."

He said it was well-known the dam gates opened regularly, and sirens gave ample warning that the river would surge.

Flaws said they had not heard the siren and were probably driving when it sounded.

Awarau was shaken by the experience: "I'm never going swimming in that river again."