Gus Hutt had planned to enjoy a quiet day of fishing in New Zealand.
A pastime that many find relaxing.
But his fishing day turned out to be anything but. Instead, his day turned into a police emergency and a “freakish miracle.”
The holiday camper was enjoying time at Matata Beach on North Island and hoping for a good catch early one morning when he went to check his fishing lines.
That’s when he saw something unusual floating in the water. Something he believed to be a porcelain doll.
“I thought he was a doll. [Even as] I reached out and grabbed him by the arm, I still thought it was a doll,” Hutt the Whakatane Beacon. “His face looked just like porcelain with his short hair wetted down, but then he let out a little squeak and I thought, ‘oh God, this is a baby and it’s alive’.”
Hutt, who was staying at Murphy’s Holiday Camp, just happened to fish in a different spot than he normally would have that day.
This change of pace is what saved the baby’s life.
“He was floating at a steady pace… if I had been just a minute later, I wouldn’t have seen him,” Hutt said. “He was bloody lucky, but he just wasn’t meant to go, it wasn’t his time.”
Hutt plucked the 18-month-old boy out of the water and his wife Sue ran to the camp’s managers to see if anyone on the campground was staying with a baby.
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Sue was told there was only one couple staying with a baby and she ran over to their tent. The camp’s staff grabbed towels to wrap the baby in.
“She ran to the tent and just shook it and asked, ‘where’s your baby – we just pulled one from the sea’ and the mother just screamed,” Hutt said.
The Matata Volunteer Fire Brigade treated the baby on-site for about 15 minutes before the child was taken to Whakatāne Hospital.
https://www.facebook.com/MatataFire/photos/a.888686161167829/2717903674912726/?type=3&theater
The child had reportedly pulled the zip up on his family’s tent and crawled underneath the flap and down to the sea while his parents were asleep.
“[Later] I followed his tracks down to the beach and saw his little footprints in the sand where he walked in,” Hutt said.
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“It was about 15m away from where I had my rod, so he wasn’t in the water long. I must’ve just missed seeing him go in.”
Hutt wasn’t exactly surprised after seeing how active the boy was when his parents stopped by to thank Hutt for saving his life.
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“He was wriggling trying to get down to have a look at everything, he was just a lovely, cheeky little fella,” Hutt said.
Hutt said he was just glad he was able to be there at the right time.
The fire brigade warned parents to make sure zips are out of reach when camping.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156753297561937&set=br.AbpzCgs-9YIwsJ97ozf_k8PSv5UEr-Un4FxZuj2TVCbXiC3EL9NKrxgfSn5XyydomAH_FlrZyW0iLx1Yivx0j726GpBf-uKhjus_vLr_WuKjTayicsUfxN0oNsqACSNBB5C74ApjuseQv0sPCmpKcTSGEBJnIyNG6AhUXXJH7iaBrpxgDF8IfXcBv8aKkqYiD30eV6WgEOGLDr7GyMbVGtXbkdYeWQ3rfd10ePZV-ptJU9JnKWh8BrequICx0XDltIg&type=3&theater
“Apparently the baby had been very excited to be on the beach. It was the couple’s first night staying here. It’s the first time they’ve been here,” Murphy’s Holiday Camp co-owner Rebecca Salter told the BBC. “Hutt, who is a fisherman and one of our regulars, spotted the baby.”
https://www.facebook.com/MatataFire/photos/a.447263155310134/2613097478726680/?type=3&theater
“It came as a shock to everyone. It was a very, very lucky result… it could have been a very tragic incident. It’s a freakish miracle.”
Thankfully, the child recovered quickly and sustained no injuries.
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