Photo: Supplied / Stuff
A 2-month-old baby was winched by helicopter to safety after being trapped in a tractor in a flooded West Coast river, The Press reports today.
The baby was one of six people in the tractor that crossed the Otututu River near Ikamatua in the Grey Valley on Saturday night.
Senior Sergeant Mark Kirkwood said it was a bad decision to cross the river after the area had more than a week of heavy rain.
The tractor's engine got flooded and stopped in the middle of the river. Two people swept downstream by the current managed to get to the river bank and call emergency services.
One person had hypothermia. The rest were unharmed.
Kirkwood said it was the same part of the river where a man died and three children were rescued after their vehicle plunged off the Rough River bridge and landed upside down in the water in 2017.
Otututu River near Ikamatua in the Grey Valley. Photo: Google Maps
This story was first published by Stuff