Napier Marine Parade rescue: Fully clothed young woman winched from sea after police officers dived in to keep her afloat

A young woman is winched from the sea by helicopter off the Marine Parade coast. Photo / Warren Buckland

Two teenagers have been discharged from hospital after a rescue in which two police officers leapt into heavy seas to reach a woman in distress on Napier’s Marine Parade beachfront.

Dramatic images show the moment the fully clothed young woman was eventually winched from the sea by the Lowe Corporation Hawke’s Bay rescue helicopter as about 100 onlookers watched on Wedneday afternoon.

The woman, one of two people reported in difficulty just before 2.30pm on Wednesday less than 200 metres from the beachfront viewing platform on the beach between the Sound Shell and the Napier War Memorial Centre, was supported beyond the waves by two officers - one a trained lifeguard - while awaiting the arrival of the helicopter to lift her from the sea.

Another person in difficulty had made it to shore by themselves, police said.

Hato Hone St John Ambulance Service reported later that two people were taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Hastings, one initially assessed in serious condition.

A young woman's rescuers bring her safely onto dry land. Photo / Warren Buckland

One young woman and man, both aged 19, were discharged on Wednesday night.

Do you know more? Email news@hbtoday.co.nz

Police used flotation devices kept at the beach for use in such rescues, which have occurred numerously over the years.

The beach has signposted warnings about its dangers, with people sometimes being snatched by what have been called “rogue” waves while walking at the water’s edge on Pacific Beach, which stretches from near the Port of Napier to near Awatoto.

One of those in the water was taken aboard Napier Port vessel Pania and transferred to Coastguard Hawke’s Bay rescue craft the Celia Knowles.

Another of the rescuers was also hoisted from the water by the helicopter after the rescue of the young woman and lifted to the beach.

All were recovered safely, police said.

Emergency responders grabbed a flotation device from the beach and took it out to the young woman in trouble. Photo / Warren Buckland

Police had no information available about how the two people entered the water, whether one may have been attempting to save the other, or from where they had entered the water, but there appeared no suggestion that anyone had been on the viewing platform, according to onlookers.

The Napier City Council confirmed the platform had been closed to the public because of the heavy swells since Saturday, and other signage warning of the dangers of swimming or getting too close to the water’s edge were in place, in times of heavy swells and also taking into consideration the unstable footing in the pebbles and sand on the sloping beach.

Such signage had been first installed over 20 years ago after a spate of incidents, including several deaths, over several years, but the warnings and provision of rescue aids was bolstered after the death of a five-year-old towards the southern end of the beach in December 2021.

Wednesday’s incident happened on a fine and sunny but crisp afternoon, the rescue unfolding as 100 or more onlookers gathered on the foreshore, the incident being just a few hundred metres from the Napier CBD.

It was not clear who had raised the alarm, the council confirming it was not staff at the nearby War Memorial Centre or the Ocean Spa recreational swimming centre, but when becoming aware Ocean Spa staff did take oxygen and a defibrillator down to the beach to assist Police.