A peaceful holiday on the South Coast could have ended in tragedy for a Western Sydney family if it wasn't for the help of a group of swimmers and a fisherman.
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The Darwiche family were enjoying a day out at Minnamurra River on September 17 when trouble struck.
As the mother of four Samar Darwiche watched as three of her children struggle in the water, she was thankful to have Robertson local Kirrilee Bracht by her side.
"It's something I never want to experience again," Samar said.
"I'm one of those mums that stays on the shore and make sure I can see the kids and know my husband is there, so I didn't think anything would happen.
"It was high tide and it looked like they were going towards the headlands where the water comes in and so they were going further and further out.
"I had my little one-year-old with me, so I was on the beach. It got a point where I couldn't see them any more but I could still hear them and something in me felt really uneasy.
"My two boys were on an inflatable device and so was my daughter and my husband was in an inflatable rowboat."
As her children left her sight, Samar got up to signal for her husband to come back closer to shore and that's when things changed.
"What I recall is that my daughter fell off and started to panic," Samar explains.
"She couldn't feel the floor and she went under a few times and started to call out of the help.
"So my husband jumped out of the rowboat to get her.
"Luckily I had this beautiful lady [Kirrilee] next to me, she did not think twice and she was ready to go in.
"She saw another person in a boat and said don't worry he's going to get her. There was also another man there, Bob, who went and got my husband and got my other boys."
The experience left Samar shaken and upset.
"Kirrilee was consoling me and making me feel comfortable. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't know what to do," she said.
"It could've been much worse."
"It was definitely a lesson to learn."
After the family moved on from the beach and explored the area, they arrived back to their accommodation to find small gifts for the kids.
"It was so nice of Kirrilee," she said.
"She really didn't have to. I wish I knew how I could thank her."
"What they did was heroic."
"I feel that the people that helped need to be acknowledged because some people don't have a happy ending."
"I'm so thankful to have a happy ending."
Kirrilee was on the shore when she saw Samar in distress.
"My friends and I saw a family on their floating toys and decided to delay our swim and keep an eye on them as many visitors get into trouble when the water starts to move quickly out to sea," she said.
"Within a minute the young girl came off her floaty and started screaming. I think the cold water temperature and how fast the water was moving probably gave her a shock.
"So I stripped off my clothes as I had my swimsuit underneath but there was a fisherman in a boat that went to grab her.
"Meanwhile her father jumped in to try and assist her but he struggled, so one of my friends, Bob, jumped on his paddleboard and went to help the dad.
"I was with the mum on the side who was very distressed. By then the two boys had drifted further away in their blow-up boat. They did the right thing by staying still in the boat until they were collected".
After the distressing events, Kirrilee bought the family small gifts to try and make the experience less traumatic.
"I really wanted this family to have good memories of their holiday. After we made sure they were all physically safe and well, I wanted to do a little something for their emotional well-being,"she said.
"Samar was a mother, just like me, worried about her kids and I could see the seriousness of the situation, I really felt for her.
"Once they were out of the water, Samar was relieved.
"We had a bit of a chat with them about swimming in unfamiliar waters and explained where it would be safer to swim for the rest of their holidays."
Kirrilee said the water in the Minnamurra River can be fairly deep and swimmers should exercise caution, especially when the tide is moving quickly out to the ocean.
"You can swim to the sandbank, but the depth changes with the tide. It was high tide at the time so in parts it was more than two metres deep," she said.
"Swimming in a pool is really different to swimming in open water. There are a lot less things to consider. If we all take a little more caution and all look out for each other, hopefully we will avoid any tragedies in the region this summer."
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Vera Demertzis
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
