A North Shore man is lobbying for life rings to be made compulsory on all Auckland wharves, saying a five-year-old boy he tried to save would be alive today if he'd had one to hold onto.
Bernard Riedl tried in vain to save Haoran Chen in choppy water on November 18.
"If he was able to hold on to a life ring he would have lived. He just couldn't keep his head above the water. I couldn't do the same either," Mr Riedl told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp.
He said he was walking along the wharf with a friend when he heard a fisherman screaming "jump in" and saw a little boy struggling in the water.
"I saw the parents running. But no one else seemed like they were going to jump in so I stripped down to my underwear and I jumped in," Mr Riedl said.
But the rough sea meant he got tired quickly.
"I swam to him and he put his arms around my neck, but the waves were very big that day. I tried to breathe, but the water was taking us both down. We couldn' keep our head above the water. I tried to breathe, I just sucked in lots of water."
It was then that Mr Riedl knew he was in trouble too. He remembered being hit by a wave, dragged under, then washing up on the rocks, hearing the mother screaming from the wharf, and not being able to see the boy.
Help came, but it was too late. Young Haoran died in the strong current of the water. He was recovered but he was unable to be resuscitated.
There's a life ring on the wharf now, but life rings are not mandatory or available at all wharves and jetties throughout Auckland.
But staff at Auckland Council say they are currently reviewing their life ring provision and are inspecting 110 structures across the region.
SHARE ME