Granddad drowns saving children

A man is dead after trying to save his grandchildren, aged 5 and 10, from a rip at Ninety Mile Beach - Northland's second drowning in a week.
The accident happened  at about 1.30pm yesterday near The Bluff, a remote and rocky outcrop about 65km north of Ahipara. It is a renowned fishing spot but with a deadly reputation.
Jackie Maynard Wiki, 55, of Te Kao, 46km south west of Cape Reinga, was gathering seafood when he saw one of the children being carried out by the rip at about 1.30pm.
Mr Wiki was under the water holding his grandson up until another person on the beach rescued the child, police said.
Another person swam out and carried Mr Wiki's granddaughter to safety.
A third person attempted to help Mr Wiki to shore but the rip was too strong.
Mr Wiki was carried out by the current. A police spokesman said other adults had brought the man to the beach. 
A Northland Emergency Services Trust helicopter flew to the scene with two paramedics on board but could not revive the man, thought to be in his 50s. 
Distraught relatives gathered at the beach and were helped by Victim Support at a nearby home, where the children were also checked.

 In a separate incident about half an hour earlier, emergency services had been called to Urupukapuka, the largest island in the eastern Bay of Islands, where a 50-year-old Whangarei man had suffered a heart attack while on holiday with his family. Another Northland rescue helicopter had gone to his aid but he could not be resuscitated.
St John Northland operations manager Tony Devanney said that when he arrived members of the public were already trying hard to save the man.
"They did a brilliant job. He got very good CPR," he said.
According to Water Safety New Zealand, before yesterday's accident at The Bluff 12 people had drowned in Northland this year - eight   in the Far North and  four in  Whangarei.
 That included a four-year-old Whangarei boy who drowned on Christmas Eve in Lake Waro, a flooded limestone quarry at Hikurangi, .

 He was named yesterday as Laylyn Taurere, of Otangarei.
Northland's drowning toll for 2008 was seven, with five in the Far North and two in Whangarei.
Taupo police were kept busy with at least three water-based callouts yesterday, including the sudden death of a man at Lake Taupo.
The 52-year-old collapsed in the water at the main lakefront beach about 2pm and could not be revived.
Earlier, police responded to a callout at Reid's Farm on the Waikato River after a kayaker tipped out of his boat, injuring his shoulder, shortly before 10am.
The coastguard found the man sitting on a rock in the middle of the river.
 Police were called to Lake Taupo again at about 4.15pm after a yacht capsized near Acacia Bay. The coastguard found a young man clinging to his upturned yacht. NZPA