Flowers have been left at the scene of a fatal car crash at Lake Rotoma. Photo / Andrew Warner
Erin Kinney flings off her shoes and scrambles down the rocky bank into the lake as the car fills with water.
She finds part of the roof caved in but she tries to smash the back window with a rock and tries to wrench open a door. Two teenagers arrive to help her get the door open.
There's a person inside.
Kinney can see most of the driver's body is submerged and covered by a dislodged car seat. The car's horn sounds continuously.
Together, the trio drag the man's lifeless body out of the car and on to the rocks on the banks of Lake Rotomā near Matahi Rd.
Kinney can hear the water in the man's chest as she tries to revive him.
Despite her best efforts, the 32-year-old mother cannot save him. She feels like she has let the man's family down.
"My heart goes out to the man's grieving family. It's a day I'll always remember and never forget."
The tragedy begins just after 3pm that day, October 25, when the man's car had left the road near the intersection of State Highway 30 and Matahi Rd and plunged into the lake.
Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post, Kinney, a cleaner and mother of two children - aged one and three - from Waiohau near Whakatane, said she wanted to share insights into the lengths taken by her and others when trying to save the driver.
Kinney said she was driving to her cleaning job at a bach at Lake Rotoma. When she arrived, she saw a man parked up and on his cellphone.
"The man told me he had just seen a white Mercedes career down the driveway of a neighbouring property, then flip onto its roof into the lake, and [he] was trying to call 111.
"The man looked in shock, so I hopped out of my car, left my two kids inside, and ran down to the lake, flung off my shoes, and scrambled down the rocks into the water."
She found the car partially submerged and lodged against a tree about three metres from the lake shoreline. Kinney said the front part of the roof was crushed in and the front windows were smashed.
"The car horn was continuously beeping.
"When I tried to look inside to locate the driver, it was difficult to see him because the car was on its roof, and [there was] lots of water inside."
Kinney said she used a rock to attempt to smash the back window and tried to pull open one of the car doors.
"I was almost beside myself trying to do everything I could to get to the driver, who was still inside the car filling up with water.
"Then three teenagers in a car turned up and two of them helped me wrench a door open."
They could not see the driver inside either.
"When I had another look, I said to them, 'Here he is, here he is'.
"I could see the driver was almost completely submerged with a dislodged car seat on top of him... his arms were floating around in the water.
"So, I grabbed his arms and the two teenagers help me drag him out of the car and carry him onto the rocks."
Kinney said the man was unresponsive and appeared to have swallowed a lot of water and vomited.
"I immediately started CPR on the side of the lake.
"I was shaking hard-out, and it was a quite stressful situation as there were no signs of life. I could hear the water in his chest while I was performing CPR."
Kinney said she performed CPR for about 10 minutes until a nurse arrived and took over.
"The nurse could see I was going hard-out to try and revive the driver, and she did CPR on the man for about five to seven minutes."
The fire brigade arrived with a defibrillator and a first-aid kit.
One of the firemen gave Kinney the defibrillator.
"I put pads on the man's chest and used the device to try and shock the man's heart to restart about three times.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't see any signs of a heart rhythm, so one of the firemen began doing chest compressions. I put an airway mask onto the driver's face and started pumping oxygen into his lungs with an oxygen bottle."
By that stage, a rescue helicopter, Hato Hone St John ambulance, a rapid response unit, and about five police officers had arrived.
Kinney said she watched emergency services work on the man for several more minutes.
"This was a sudden and tragic event and all very surreal. I really feel like I have let the man's family down a bit, because I wasn't able to revive him so they could have the chance to say their goodbyes."
Kinney said she had since talked to the man's daughter, who thanked her for trying to save her father.
"I hope I get the chance to one day meet the man again in the afterlife - possibly when I get to Heaven's pearly gates."
Kinney said she had learned to do CPR after her late step-father had a heart attack when she was 12 years old. She has her first-aid certificate and said she had remembered what to do.
"I also want to say a big thank you to the nurse and the teenagers, who did a great job. My heart goes out to the man's grieving family.
"It's a day I will always remember."
Chris Hands, officer-in-charge of the Rotoma volunteer fire brigade, said four fire crews from Rotoma and Kawerau attended the crash.
Hands said it appeared, from a report, the deceased may have been slumped over the wheel of his car as it crossed the road and ended up in the lake.
"It is suspected that he possibly suffered a medical event prior to the crash," he said.
Hands said Kinney and everyone who stepped in and tried to save the driver before emergency services personnel arrived had done an "amazing job".
"If people do nothing, then there is no hope of survival. Even if people do a little bit until emergency services get there, then there is every chance the patient will live.
"Sadly, in this case, despite everyone's best efforts, the man died at the scene."
- Police today released the name of the man who died in this crash. He was Antony Byrne Ansell, 77, of Lake Rotomā.
Te Ngae Rd's speed limit will rise from 50km/h to 60km/h after a review.