19 Dec 2014

Police save swimmer in Greymouth

11:55 am on 19 December 2014

Five Greymouth police officers were needed to save the life of a swimmer caught in surf at the town's Blaketown Beach.

The swimmer in trouble was spotted by a man running on the beach and the first two constables on the scene put on lifejackets and swam out to the man with ropes.

Their three colleagues on the beach then pulled them back through the surf while they held the man afloat.

Police said last year's decision to equip the West Coast patrol cars with lifejackets and ropes had paid dividends and the man would probably have died if they had to wait for a helicopter or boat.

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