Teens caught in rip lucky to survive

A teenage brother and sister are lucky to be alive after they were caught in a rip and dragged 200m offshore at Pauanui yesterday.

The pair, whom the Herald understands were holidaying from Raglan, managed to get themselves back to shallower water where a boogie boarder, believed to be a family member, helped ferry them back to shore.

St John Ambulance paramedics arrived about 11.30am to find one of them vomiting salt water.

Pauanui St John Ambulance team leader Steve Morgan said the pair were swimming in front of the surf club when they got into trouble.

The beach was not patrolled by lifeguards yesterday but the local coastguard was alerted by bystanders.

"They had been swimming for some time and got particularly exhausted before they finally made their own way back to the beach," said Mr Morgan. "My understanding is they were certainly up to 300m offshore."

Mr Morgan said southerly or southeasterly conditions often produced holes and rips at the beach.

He said the boy, 16, and his 14-year-old sister were strong swimmers but could have drowned. Both had swallowed a lot of water and were exhausted when treated by paramedics on shore and taken via ambulance to Thames Hospital for further treatment.

"They were probably fine but we took them there as a precaution, particularly when there's salt water in the lungs," said Mr Morgan.