Rescued pensioner recalls only the icy cold
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
A woman pulled from Wellington Harbour's freezing water remembers nothing about her brush with an icy death apart from the intense cold.
The 65-year-old Paraparaumu pensioner was recovering yesterday in Taupo after a therapeutic dip in a hot pool at Debrett's.
She was not even aware of her dramatic rescue till she met her rescuer in Wellington Hospital the next day.
'I don't remember at all. I do remember being in the water. It was very cold. It just looked so lovely.'
The woman slipped from Taranaki Wharf on Saturday night while waiting for the annual fireworks display to start.
Senior Constable Ross Lane of the Wellington police maritime unit dived in and dragged her from beneath the darkened wharf to the Lady Elizabeth IV police launch.
She was hypothermic and in shock and seconds from certain death.
The couple paid tribute yesterday to Mr Lane. 'His courage in going into the cold, dark water saved the life of my wife,' her husband said, his voice breaking.
'I will be eternally grateful to Ross. If Ross hadn't done that, they'd have been looking for a dead body.'
The 69-year-old retiree said he and his wife caught the train from Paraparaumu for the annual display. He headed for his traditional pint of Guinness at Molly Malones, while she had 'a couple of wines' at a waterfront bar.
At their prearranged meeting spot, his wife did not show up. 'I saw the police launch going at 500 miles per hour and I thought, `Holy Moses', then I saw the ambulance lights going flash, flash, flash – and little did I know.'
The man caught the train home and assumed his wife would do the same. But she was still missing when he reached the Kapiti Coast. 'I got home at midnight. There was an answerphone message from the emergency department saying, `If you're looking for your wife, she's here'.
'I had no idea what had happened. So I turned up to the emergency department and there she was getting warmed up.'
It was not until Mr Lane visited the next day that the story of his wife's dramatic rescue emerged. 'We didn't know that part of the story. We only knew she ended up in hospital. It was only Ross who could put the picture together.
'Someone said she just slipped. She remembers going into the water and then getting very, very cold.'
She was embarrassed and did not want to be identified.
Her husband also thanked the 'kind person' who picked up her handbag and handed it in to police.
The woman said she was grateful to Mr Lane. 'I thanked him – a lot. But I don't remember anything he did.'