An Adelaide couple’s night could have ended in tragedy if not for the SA Sea Rescue Squadron Copper Coast flotilla.
The couple was visiting the area and the wife was fishing on the Wallaroo jetty spur before 8pm on Tuesday, May 7.
Her husband, a 67-year-old man, fell into the water as he tried looking over the side at the end of the spur.
It was a col
d and windy night, with rough seas.
“The wife didn’t have her phone with her so she ran from the jetty all the way back to the Sea Rescue building where
she ran into another couple here on holidays,” a SA Police spokesperson said.
“He (the man) managed to hold onto a pylon and stand on one of the beams to wait for assistance.”
The police called Sea Rescue just after 8pm and put them on alert. “They thought there was possibly someone in the water but they weren’t sure,” flotilla leader Ted Chapman said. “About 10 minutes after the call, we had the boat ready to go. ” It was a challenging rescue for the crew, with seas reaching one to one and a half metres, making it tricky to get close to the man. “It was extremely difficult,” Mr Chapman said. “We had trouble getting near him and then trying to pull him onto the boat because he was exhausted and hypothermic.
“We are happy to have been able to help him, that’s what we’re here for.”
The SA Ambulance Service took the man to Wallaroo Hospital where he was kept overnight.
Photo: left, Sam Jamieson, right, Ted Chapman our members responsible for saving a man’s life
Story and photo courtesy of the York Peninsula Country Times
