Son tells how father saved him before drowning

Aerial view of Ninety Mile Beach where many drownings have occured. Photo / Supplied

A grieving son whose father drowned after holding him above water has paid tribute to the loving family man.

Felisiano Puleanga, 37, of Papatoetoe, a father of five boys, died at Glenbrook, south of Auckland, on Saturday.

The tragedy was a carbon copy of a drowning in the Far North, where Aucklander Jackie Wiki, 55, died after saving the life of his grandson by holding him above the water at a notorious spot on Ninety Mile Beach.

Mr Puleanga's son, Tino, 9, said he was swimming off a boat ramp with his cousin Heleina Latu, 10, when "the water got a bit rough".

"It pushed me away to the deep," said Tino.

It was a hot, sunny day and the cousins did not have swimsuits, so had jumped into the ocean in their clothes.

"I had my boots on, too, the same boots as Dad," said Tino.

But the swirling current was too strong and the children screamed for help.

"Dad was watching just in case we drowned so I yelled out, 'Help, Dad, please help me out'," Tino said.

Mr Puleanga swam out with another beachgoer and passed Heleina to the man to take ashore.

When rescuers returned, they found Mr Puleanga under water holding his son up to breathe.

"He held me up in the air," Tino said, "and then the white man came and took me."

Mr Puleanga had bought enough time for his son to be saved but not himself. Desperate attempts to revive him with CPR proved futile.

Sister Maile Katoa said her adoptive brother was "a really loving person" who always put his children first.

"His life was his kids and his sister's kids," she said.

As a father of five sons, aged between three months and 10, he loved his nieces like daughters.

Tino, who attends Holy Cross School in Papatoetoe, raved about his Dad.

"When something breaks, he always tries to fix it and never gives up," he said.

An avid rugby fan, Mr Puleanga loved a good pork meal and often declared, "It's yum as, to the max", while eating, Tino said.