SAVED FROM DROWNING

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 88, 8 January 1935, Page 4

SAVED FROM DROWNING

Lad Rescued at Onewa Beach

By Telegraph—Press Association

Auckland, January 7.

A lad of seventeen,‘Charles Funke, Dairy Flat, was rescued when close to drowning yesterday at Orewa Beach. He was swept out by the current and receding tide and was 400 yards from the shore when Messrs J. Nelson and N. Ansley, of Auckland, ran from a seaside cottage and plunged in.

Another young man, who has not been identified, had previously reached him, but had to release his hold as he himself was seriously distressed and it was only with difficulty that he reached the shore. Nelson and Ansley found Funke practically unconscious, but he caused trouble by struggling intermittently. A third rescuer, Mr. D. Kean, arrived, but the current was so strong that none of them could return. Meanwhile people on the beach were hastily procuring dinghies. One was found up the river and another was secured by a motorist who towed it two milas along the sand behind his ear.

The rescuers were all feeling the effects of their three-quarters of an hour’s struggle when both dinghies arrived practically together. Funke, who was unconscious, was placed in one boat and artificial respiration was begun at once and continued on the beach. After some time he recovered.