The wife of the ill-fated man who lost his life battling the sea at Waimarama Beach is reported to be in a stable condition at Hawkes Bay hospital.
Hemin Limbachiya and his wife Tanvi Bhavsar along with a third male companion got into trouble in the waters of Waimarama Beach on Sunday, January 14.
The husband lost his life while trying to save his wife, despite some heroic rescue efforts by local beachgoers, which included a 16-year-old teenager.
Earlier, The Indian Weekender had mentioned that the trio was swimming about 100-200 meter away from the shore – as also reported by NZ Herald – a fact contested by a close family member of the couple, who chose to remain anonymous.
In respect to their sentiments, The Indian Weekender has changed its earlier story replacing “swimming” with “drifting”.
With due respect to all sensitivities involved, it is important to note that with two drowning in less than a week at popular, unpatrolled spots in Hawke's Bay, an urgent safety plea has been issued by water safety organisations.
It has been reported by NZ Herald that in this instance as well the trio was in trouble after getting caught in “flash rip” after patrols had ended.
Water safety organisations are urging people to be informed and mindful of water safety measures before entering beaches.
Water safety measures:
• Parents need to ensure they swam with their children and kept them within arm's reach.
• Before entering any waterway, people need to ensure they were ready should disaster strike.
• Beachgoers should keep an eye on people in the water and know how to react if someone got in trouble.
• If swimmers realised they were in trouble, experts believe that the most important thing to do was resist the urge to swim against the flow of water as this saps energy.
• Instead, signal for help, and go with the current.
• When close to shore, try to swim parallel to the waves which would wash them onshore.
• Beachgoers also needed to be able to recognise if someone was in distress because they often could not call out.
• People in such situations would typically face the shore and look distressed. If a beachgoer called out to see if they were okay, they would not be able to respond.
• Rescuers should assess risks, and only enter the water if they had some form of floatation to ensure they too did not get into trouble.
• Providing something that could float -"whether it's a chilly bin or a boogie board" - interrupted the drowning process and gave rescuers time to plan and call emergency services.