uMhlanga Rox lifesaver helps save girl’s life
Matthew Opperman was having lunch with his mother, Lisa, when a cry for help spurred him into action.
THE quick thinking of an Umhlanga Rocks Surf Lifesaving Club member helped save the life of a 10-year-old girl who was caught in a rip tide off a beach in Salt Rock recently. Matthew Opperman was having lunch with his mother, Lisa, when a cry for help spurred him into action.
“I had just been on a five hour cycle ride and when I arrived home my mom asked if I wanted to go to lunch at hotel in Salt Rock. Initially I said no but I caved when she mentioned sea food. As soon as I had finished eating a woman ran into the hotel screaming ‘Help, a child is drowning’. I immediately ran towards the back of the hotel where there is a pool only to discover this young girl was actually being swept out to sea by a rip tide.”
Opperman jumped into the ocean and swam about 40 metres off the shoreline to get to the young girl.
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“I took off my shirt and jumped into the ocean with my jeans on and told her elderly uncle, who was trying to save her, to swim back to shore and I swam out to her. I got to her in the nick of time, because had I gotten there about 20 seconds later the situation could’ve turned fatal.
“I managed to hold her chin above the water and I swam using one arm and swam back to shore. She had got caught in a rip tide which was extremely difficult to swim in. My training with Rocks (Surf Lifesaving Club) definitely helped me save her life,” Opperman explained.
His mother, Lisa, also praised her son’s efforts saying she understood why now lifesavers competed in beach events.
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“I always wondered why lifesavers do flags and beach sprints but all of his training from doing those events helped him save this little girl’s life which was just incredible. The waves were tempestuous on this particular day and I feared for Matthew’s safety but he calmly brought the little girl back to shore and her family’s reaction was just an amazing thing to see as they were so thankful to Matthew for what he’d done,” she said.
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