A fisherman chanced to come across the 18-month-old baby boy at a beach in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. It appeared to be “tumbling” in the water and he picked it up under the impression that it was a doll. However, it turned out to be a tiny-tot that must have found its way into the water. It was a miraculous rescue because any delay could have led to serious consequences.

New Zealand Herald reports that the baby was with its parents and might have pulled up the zip of the tent when they were asleep. It might then have crawled along the Matata beach and landed in the water.

Fortunately, the baby was seen by the fisherman in time before it came to harm.

Parents must be careful with tiny-tots

The parents were staying at Murphy's Holiday Camp. In response to a distress call, Matata Volunteer Fire Brigade deputy chief fire Officer Mark Hofert responded and was shocked to learn that it was about an 18-month-old baby. Hofert’s daughter knows a bit about medicine since she is not only a paramedic student but also a Fire and Emergency volunteer.

She used her knowledge to render first aid.

Mark Hofert explained that the baby was in wet clothes. He had injuries on exposed portions of his face, and fluid in his lungs. After the rescue, the rescuers draped him in dry blankets and administered oxygen to bring him back to normal. The boy is recovering and the parents have thanked the fisherman who has given the baby a second lease of life.

The lesson is that elders must ensure while camping that tent zips remain out of reach of children. New Zealand witnessed 92 preventable drownings last year, and seven under-five's met watery graves in the same period while there have been three so far this year. Water Safety New Zealand chief executive Jonty Mills mentioned it.

It was an unusual incident

From the look of things, the parents never realized that their 18-month-old could zip up the flap in the holiday camp and wander out of the confines of the tent to explore Matata beach. According to Telegraph UK, the mother admitted that the baby did try to run into the sea the previous day and they stopped him. That might have been why he tried to sneak out early in the morning before his parents woke up.

Fortunately, the fisherman came along as a savior. He was fishing near Matata beach and noticed something in the water. He thought it was a doll but when it let out a squeak, he realized that it was a baby. Incidentally, there was only one visitor in the holiday camp who had a baby with them and it was easy to locate its parents.
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