11-year-old Haast surf lifeguard saves boy from swollen stream

An 11-year-old West Coast schoolgirl has saved a preschooler who was floating upside down in a swollen stream, thanks to her life-saving training.

Yazmin Haddock, who attends Haast Primary School in one of New Zealand’s most isolated areas, was playing in the bush with three other children last Saturday when the youngest, a 4-year-old girl, slipped and fell into the creek.

“She was by the stream trying to pick up a stick and she fell,” Yazmin said.

“She began to float down the river and as if drowning, receiving mouthfuls of water. She fell on her face.”

Fortunately, Yazmin saw what happened and heard the girl’s 6-year-old brother start to “scream” instantly.

“She was right at the top of the hill and I saw her and ran straight up to her, took off my rubber boots and jumped up to find her,” Yazmin said.

The stream, which is usually still, was flowing strongly because it had been raining the night before, and the 4-year-old was carried a few meters downstream before being caught between some sticks and bushes.

Yazmin used a technique he learned last summer at the Kōtuku Junior Surf Lifesaving Club in Greymouth, where the family lived.

“I jumped up and swam downstream next to her, and then I swam back and picked her up with my arms,” ​​he said.

Yazmin’s brother, Keoni, 9, who had been doing a trail in the bush, rushed to find the girl’s mother, who ran to the scene.

The 4-year-old was upset but unharmed.

“She started crying and said, ‘I will never go down to the stream again,'” Yazmin said.

“But the following week he said he was going to go back there, so he’s not so scared of him anymore.”

Yazmin’s mother, Kylie Haddock, said that the water from the stream was up to Yazmin’s chest but not over his head, “so he had no problem.”

But the Kōtuku Surf Life Saving Club, and later Surf Life Saving New Zealand, posted the story on their Facebook pages, each with more than 100 “loves” and dozens of “likes.”

“Wow, what a salvation! We need more like you Yazmin, total lifeguard. You’re going to go a long way,” commented one person on the Kōtuku page.

“OMG Yaz you’re great !!” said another.

On the national page, the North Beach Surf Lifesaving Club in Christchurch commented: “Great job Yazmin, you are a true hero.”

Yazmin said that he trained at the Kōtuku youth club every Sunday until terms 4 and 1 last summer.

“Next summer I would like to continue saving lives,” he said.

“I was proud that I had all this training and I was finally able to do it and I ended up saving someone’s life.”