TOP STORY: Drowned mate 'just gave up'

Lindy Andrews
As he clung to his uncle's dinghy for dear life, Sapo (Sam) Muliipu heard his friend Peter Tafaofale's final cries echo through the darkness: "Sapo! Sapo! Sapo!"
Then the 36-year-old Aucklander fell silent.
Seconds later Sam was alone with the boiling sea, the bitter cold and his own torturous thoughts.
"I knew Peter didn't want to die," the 25-year-old Samoan said from his Hastings hospital bed yesterday.
"I didn't hear from him again. I think he just gave up.
"I was holding on to the tip of the boat and I thought I would give up; just hold on and go down with it.
"I wanted us to die together, and be buried together."
With his brothers Siosi, Bema and Sio standing by, Sam Muliipu recalled the 3 1/2 terrifying hours of his life in which the prospect of death seemed almost comforting.
Sam and Peter had hit it off from the moment they met in January this year, although they were very different. Sam loved the Hawke's Bay lifestyle, while Peter was a city boy through and through.
So when Sam brought his mate down to Hastings for a holiday last week, a spot of fishing was a must.
On Friday evening, the two men set a net at the Clive rivermouth, hoping for a big catch of kahawai.
The Muliipu family had fished in the area for years without incident.
At 11.30pm, the two men rowed out to check the net, but found it had drifted away.
"I started rowing back to shore, but Peter had the torch and saw our net down by the mouth, so I rowed out to it."
As they checked the net, the dinghy began to take on water.
"The water just flew straight into it and then another wave just carried us out and flipped the boat."
Almost immediately, Sam ditched his heavy clothing to improve his chances of survival.
But his friend, who had never been boating before, began to panic.
"I told Peter just hang on to the boat, but he was panicking real hard out, and calling my name, 'Sapo! Sapo!'."
When the cries stopped, Sam knew his friend had drowned.
For a moment, the staunch Samoan facade weakened and he wiped the corner of an eye.
"I feel sad, I have lost my best friend."
But the skills he learned at an open water dive course probably saved Sam's own life.
Trying to swim was a waste of time in the turbulent waters. Naked and colder than he ever thought possible, Sam flipped over onto his back and floated.
"But there was water going over my face, water going everywhere with such big swells.
"Sometimes I was trying to breathe but I was just breathing water in and spewing it back up. But I had learned not to panic."
From the sea, Sam could see Napier Bluff to his right and the soaring chimney of the fertiliser works directly in front of him.
He had drifted at least five kilometres.
Numb with shock and cold, there were times when it seemed easier to give up, to sink and let death take over.
"Three times I thought of giving up. My last thoughts would have been: 'I love my mum and dad, I love my sisters and I love my brothers'.
"It worried me and I thought: 'This is not me, coming to this end'.
"Then I saw the red light of the helicopter.
"I was thinking: 'I hope they come and save me'."
There were moments of despair when the Lowe Corporation Rescue chopper flew straight past, seemingly headed for Cape Kidnappers. Then it circled back.
Exhausted, Sam drew on his last reserves of strength to be seen and survive.
"I just started splashing the water with the last of my energy."
Seconds later the helicopter was hovering overhead.
"But the downdraught made it worse; it was stirring up the water and I was, like, drowning. By then I was just lying face-down."
From high above him, paramedic Ross Munro tossed down a life preserver, then, as the helicopter hovered 10m above the sea, leapt into the water and kept Sam afloat until the Coastguard arrived. From then on, Sam sank into a dream state.
"I thought I was dead. Even when I got to hospital I thought I was dead."
In fact, Mr Munro said later, he probably had just minutes to live.
Yesterday about 1pm, Sam's mother Elena and his brother Sio found Peter Tafaofale's body as they combed the beach near the fertiliser works.
"I'm just really shocked from it all," Sam said.
"I feel real bad about my best friend Peter because he looked after me. It's going to be a horrible Christmas."
If he knew what he knows now, Sam says, he would have done things differently.
He would have made sure he and Peter were wearing life jackets.