Blue Riley helping during the rescue on Friday evening. Photo / Supplied
A hero who helped rescue a family of four from a notorious Napier beach says more needs to be done to prevent a future tragedy along the shoreline.
The ordeal happened off Marine Parade on Friday evening.
Four people – a young child, a man, and two women – as well as a small dog were seen in heavy surf off Marine Parade about 5.20pm, near Bay Skate.
Two people were taken to hospital after the incident, including a woman in a critical condition, who was understood to be recovering as of early this week.
It is unclear how the emergency started.
The stony beach is considered dangerous and signs are in place warning people not to swim.
It could have ended much worse if not for a bystander who jumped into the water to help, and has since been identified.
Blue Riley, from Clive, was out with his fiancée near the beach when he saw the “family of four getting rag-dolled in the ocean”.
“I just chucked everything down and sprinted in,” Riley, a lifelong surfer, said.
He said a woman was holding onto her young child close to shore, but they were getting hammered by the breakers, as one wave might come in 10m, then the next would come in 40m.
He said the child looked about the age of a toddler.
He managed to pull them to safety, preventing them from being sucked out.
He then entered the water again and helped the man, who appeared to be trying to help an older woman caught further out, get back to shore.
The small dog also managed to scurry back onto land.
By that stage, both Riley and the family were exhausted.
Riley said he returned to the water one final time to help the older lady.
He said that without any form of flotation, it was nearly impossible to get to her.
Eventually, he managed to get hold of her and pull her up onto the beach, as a set of waves brought her closer to shore.
He was blown away that she was still breathing.
At a guess, he said the ordeal lasted about 10 to 15 minutes.
“It was just so surgy. I have been out when it has been bigger than that, but not ripping so hard underneath your feet.”
During the ordeal, his fiancée was on the phone to emergency services, who arrived and assessed the group.
Riley, who’s reluctant to be described as a hero, said it was a horrible experience, but he was glad a life had been saved.
He said he received a message from the family on Tuesday morning thanking him.
He said, in his view, more needed to be done by Napier City Council to prevent future tragedies, including installing more warning signs closer together near the beach, and making more flotation devices available.
“They need to be on the beach, on some big bollards or something, 50m or 100m apart,” he said, of life preservers.
“If you have flotation, you can stay out of the water and keep your head up.”
Currently, there are signs about 70m back from the shoreline warning people not to swim, dotted along the main walking path.
Life preservers are also available on the back of some of those signs.
The two signs closest to the incident do not currently have a life preserver.
Riley said he would recommend lifeguards patrolled the shoreline, near the city centre, given Napier is a tourist town.
He said he was unsure how the four people came to be in the water.
A police officer had told him the four people were doing okay since the incident.
Witness Glen Collins, on holiday from Australia, labelled Riley a hero and an “absolute legend” for helping.
“I know for certain the young man deserves a commendation; he risked his life.”
He said the lady who was the last to get out of the water would have been about 50 to 60 years old.
The family involved was contacted by Hawke’s Bay Today but preferred not to comment.
A St John ambulance spokesman said four patients were assessed at the scene by ambulance crews.
Two of those patients were taken to hospital, one in a critical condition and one in a moderate condition.
The last fatalities in the water off Marine Parade happened in February 2020 and December 2021, when two young children drowned. The latter incident led to a dozen signs being erected along the foreshore warning people not to swim.