Greymouth Police saved the life of a 41 year old local man when they swam to his rescue off Blaketown beach yesterday afternoon.
The alarm was raised about 4.30pm. When officers arrived a man who had been running along the beach had already made an unsuccessful attempt to save the man and he was in grave difficulty.
West Coast Area Commander Inspector John Canning five officers responded to the incident. Two constables put on lifejackets and swam out to the man with ropes. Once they reached him their three colleagues on the beach were able to pull the officers back through the surf while they held the man afloat.
He praised his staff for their quick thinking and life-saving heroics.
"They had the right equipment, kept cool heads, worked together and in the end it was a relatively straightforward rescue for the officers."
Inspector Canning said the decision had been made a year ago to equip the West Coast patrol cars with lifejackets and ropes to ensure staff safety.
"That decision paid dividends yesterday. Without this equipment to keep themselves safe I couldn't condone my staff attempting a rescue like that, but if they had to wait for a boat or helicopter to assist this man would most likely have perished."
He said the swimmer was exhausted and unable to walk or sit up when they got him back to the beach. He was taken by ambulance to Grey Base Hospital.
He said it was a timely reminder going into the holiday period for people to take care around water and to ensure they have the right safety equipment when out in boats.
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