A West Coast man is in hospital with hypothermia after his canoe capsized while whitebaiting.
The 52-year-old man had been whitebaiting on an island in the middle of the Hokitika River, near the Hokitika Bridge when he got into trouble.
West Coast police were called in to help around 7.45am on Sunday after the man capsized while trying to paddle to shore in worsening weather conditions.
Torrential rain at the time had caused the river to swell, hampering his efforts to try to swim ashore and left him floating downstream.
"He was able to stop on a submerged island halfway to the river mouth in the middle of the river and a member of the public came to his aid in a white-water kayak," police said.
The West Coast ROA mining rescue chopper was called in to airlift the man to safety, transporting him to Greymouth where he was treated for hypothermia.
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