Newspaper Article 2012 – Hero risks life to save man in sea

Hero risks life to save man in sea

by Mark Story
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A former Hawke’s Bay man is being praised across the Tasman after saving the life of a drowning man.

Bryon Marshall, 31, was described as a hero after rescuing a passenger from a 10m boat, which claimed the life of another trapped man when it capsized in Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay about 6pm on Sunday.

The boat, carrying 12 people, was hit by a freak wave off Point Nepean, throwing 10 into the water.

Two remained trapped in the hull while the other 10 took refuge on a life raft and were rescued by a nearby dive boat.

Dive Victoria operator Jason Salter and Mr Marshall – who now lives and works in Australia as a professional scuba diver – arrived on the scene within 20 minutes.

Mr Marshall, a former surf life-saver, swam out to the boat to search for the two missing men.

Discovering one submerged and tangled in fishing line, he tried unsuccessfully to free him before finding another man, who was disoriented and trapped inside the hull of the capsized boat.

“We waited for a lull in the waves and I motioned for him to come out and I gripped him by the arm and pulled him out,” Mr Marshall said.

“With the waves and everything crashing on him he didn’t have much hope really of being able to see where he was.”

He towed the man, in his late 50s, into the shallows, where he was winched to safety by a rescue helicopter and taken to hospital.

His condition was later described as stable.

It was the second time the former Napier Boys’ High School student had saved a man from drowning.

In 2008, a 60-year-old man survived a scuba diving incident, thanks to Mr Marshall. He performed CPR for five minutes on the man, who had swallowed mouthfuls of water while diving off Melbourne’s Boarfish Reef.

Mr Salter praised the actions of his employee.

“The rescue chopper wasn’t prepared to put anyone in the water to go in and have a look inside the boat so my guy went in and if it weren’t for him going in I don’t think that guy would have survived,” he said.

“He’s absolutely heroic, he’s a strong guy in the water but still to put your life at risk to help another – he did that without question and this person is alive now because of his effort.”

Mr Marshall said he “just did what I was trained to do”.

Photo caption – LIFESAVER: Bryon Marshall has been labelled a hero after rescuing a passenger from a capsized boat in Australia.