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Lincoln O’Hagan’s red shoes may have saved his life.
On Sunday, Life Flight crewman Mike Beausoleil scanned the surf 300 meters off the coast of Wainuiomata in Lower Hutt from the door of the Wellington Westpac rescue helicopter. Something stood out in the blue-gray water.
“It is very difficult to choose a person in the water. You have to look for something out of the ordinary, something that doesn’t belong.
“In this case it was her bright red shoes, that’s how we saw it.”
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Quentin McGregor / Lower Hutt Police
The Wellington Westpac rescue helicopter lifts a man off a rock off the coast of Wainuiomata in Lower Hutt. The man had previously tried to help 11-year-old Lincoln O’Hagan, who was also rescued by the helicopter.
The 11-year-old from Upper Hutt had been playing in knee-deep water when he stepped into a hole and was washed away by a wave.
Half an hour later they would pull him out of the sea, hypothermic and semi-conscious.
A man jumped up behind him and the couple reached a rock about 180 meters offshore, but Lincoln was swept away again by a wave.
ROSA WOODS / Things
Lincoln O’Hagan, 11, says he knew he was found when he saw the red colors on the Westpac rescue helicopter.
When a rip took Lincoln out to sea, he remembered his water safety training at school. He performed a technique called “the floating pencil” to keep his mouth above the surface.
“I wasn’t thinking, just trying to hold my head up. He knew he shouldn’t fight the tear. “
He had done enough to stay alive until the helicopter arrived.
Hannah Latta was the Wellington Free Ambulance intensive care paramedic who was lowered with a winch to retrieve the exhausted Lincoln.
She grabbed it as she plunged into the water.
“If it had been there for 30 seconds to one more minute, it would have been dead.”
Lincoln remembers the moment the helicopter passed overhead.
ROSA WOODS / Things
Lincoln O’Hagan, 11, was semi-conscious and hypothermic when he was pulled out of the water when he was dragged 300 meters out to sea off the coast of Wainuiomata on Sunday. The crew was (from left) Pilot Bernie Pepper, Intensive Care Flight Paramedic Hannah Latta, and Rescue Crewman Mike Beausoleil.
“I heard the helicopter … I saw it was red and I knew it was a rescue helicopter. I knew they had found me. “
The helicopter landed near the beach, where Lincoln was treated by ambulance personnel and taken to Wellington Hospital.
Lincoln’s body temperature was 26 degrees centigrade when he was pulled out of the water; the average human body temperature is around 36.5 ° C and a person is considered hypothermic if their temperature falls below 35 ° C.
Once Lincoln was on the ground, the crew returned for the man still stranded on the rock.
Beausoleil said 25 knots to the north created challenging flying conditions. Photos taken from the shoreline show pilot Bernie Pepper floating the helicopter one meter above the water’s surface so the man could climb aboard.
Latta said the incident highlighted the importance of water safety. As New Zealand approached summer, he said it was imperative that people know how to read the conditions and how to stay safe.
Lincoln’s safety lessons almost certainly helped him stay alive while awaiting rescue, he said.
Talking to Things on Friday after handing out chocolates and a card to the crew that rescued him, Lincoln said he had no idea what happened to his lucky red shoes.
