Episode 5 Close Calls: On Camera


Episode 5

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A close call - a moment of danger when life can hang in the balance.

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What would happen if I wasn't found or didn't find a way out of it?

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A split second when the outcome could go either way.

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It's a choice - life or death.

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The difference between disaster and survival.

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We saw a lady who was critically ill, if not dying in front of us.

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I kept thinking the hotel was going to fall on us.

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These are the people that have been there and lived to tell the tale.

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It's a day they'll never forget.

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The day they had a close call.

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Today on Close Calls - rescue helicopters scour a vast area

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of the Australian bush.

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But the British tourist they are searching for is close to giving up hope.

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The lurking fear of what would happen if I wasn't found or didn't find a way out of it.

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And, horror on the school run.

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Helicopter medics need to perform emergency surgery on the school grounds.

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We saw a lady who was clearly critically ill,

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if not dying in front of us.

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Also today, British kite surfing champion Lewis attempts

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a mid-air loop at 30 metres.

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The crowd loves it.

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But something goes wrong.

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His girlfriend, Courtney, knows it's serious.

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I just got tunnel vision, and I just ran.

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I just wanted to get to him as quick as possible.

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Cape York, Queensland, in Australia.

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A helicopter crew is searching for a British tourist lost in the outback

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for more than two days.

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They find a message scrawled in the sand, but they can't find HIM.

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It's a very dangerous place.

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Everything from wild boars to crocodiles,

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to spiders and insects that live within that bush.

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63-year-old Geoff Keys from Kent is far from home.

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He is alone, barefoot, hungry and fearing for his life.

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It's now dark and I was, in effect, just wandering around in the bush.

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It brought it home to me that I was actually, probably,

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in a bit of trouble. To put it mildly.

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Two years ago, retired mechanic Geoff set off on a trip of a lifetime.

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My home is Dartford in Kent, my home now is the road.

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I rented my house out, my kids are grown up, all in their 20s or 30s,

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so I just... I'm a wanderer now.

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So far, he's driven all over Europe, and visited Russia and Japan.

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Next, he decides to head down under.

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I wanted to get up to the northernmost tip of Australia which is at the very

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top of Cape York and I was heading, also,

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for a road that's known as the Old Telegraph Line.

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Or the Telly Track. It's one of Australia's iconic drives that people love to do.

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He is heading for a campsite in a remote part of the Cape York Peninsula,

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a vast expanse of land that measures nearly 150,000 square kilometres

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and where, on average, the nearest town is over an hour's drive away.

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It's a beautiful July day when Geoff arrives at his destination

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along with friends he's made en route.

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We got there fairly early in the morning,

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we decided to camp for a couple of nights.

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The weather was really nice, nice and warm.

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And I decided I wanted to go off and explore a bit.

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Geoff wants to see the popular Eliot waterfalls,

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which are around 2km away, on Eliot Creek.

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My plan was just to swim down to Eliot Creek and walk back,

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so I hadn't bothered to take any shoes with me because I was going to be

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in the water and the Telly Track itself is sandy so it would have been

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just like walking back up a beach.

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As his friends go off fishing, Geoff sets out on his adventure.

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By swimming up Canal Creek towards Eliot Creek,

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and its nearby waterfalls. Well, that's the plan.

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Having set off for the swim down Canal Creek,

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I was expecting to find the waterfalls - but didn't.

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Unfortunately, I didn't actually know what they looked like.

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I just expected to find them a couple of kilometres downstream.

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So I just kept swimming.

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But for the falls, he should have turned right.

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He doesn't realise it now,

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but he's swimming downstream - away from the waterfall

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and further down Eliot Creek.

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That was about 4.30, I think, and eventually,

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about six o'clock I was thinking to myself, well,

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I haven't found these waterfalls yet.

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Perhaps I should be getting back.

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Geoff gets out of the creek and heads off in the direction he thinks

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leads back to the campsite.

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The track wasn't where I thought it should be, so at about 8.30,

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it's now dark, and I was, in effect, just wandering around in the bush.

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I knew that I was lost.

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Finally, at 2am, 12 hours after he set off with no shoes,

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he gives up trying to find a route back to camp.

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The sensible thing to do was to rest up, so I just went up onto the bank,

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found myself somewhere to lie down and just rest.

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The next morning and Geoff has now been lost in the outback for 18 hours.

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His friends back at the campsite haven't heard him return,

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so begin to worry.

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After breakfast they decide to call the emergency services.

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Brad Foat is the senior police constable on duty.

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The only details we had were that it was a person by the name of Geoff,

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and he had a British accent.

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Geoff's friends tell Brad he was heading to Eliot Falls,

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2km downstream from the campsite.

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Brad puts together search teams including helicopters to help scour

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an area of six square kilometres.

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I've divided that up into numerous helicopters,

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foot search zones for land assets and three primary search areas for

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helicopters and, basically,

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they fly back and forward with aerial spotters on board

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in order to try and look for them.

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After a while I heard helicopters out.

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They were quite a way back behind me,

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so they were clearly searching where I'd last been.

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That brought it home to me that I was actually, probably,

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in a bit of trouble. To put it mildly.

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Later, Geoff spots a rescue helicopter, but they don't see him.

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I was just standing there yelling at it, "Come back!"

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I was yelling, "Come back!"

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Close calls don't just happen when people knowingly take risks.

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Sometimes freak accidents occur during everyday errands.

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Porthcawl, south Wales.

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There's been a freak accident involving a mum on the school run.

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A call comes into the emergency services.

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Mum Sonali has been run over by her own car.

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I could hear voices around me screaming, shouting,

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saying, "Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!"

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She is fighting for her life.

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It was significantly close to being a fatal accident.

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Porthcawl, a seaside town on the South Wales coast.

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It's home to Sonali, her husband and twin 12-year-olds Thomas and Caitlin.

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Local girl, born and bred around here.

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My family are the cornerstone of my life,

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they've supported me in everything that I've done.

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Everything I do is for them, as well.

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It's very important.

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Working full-time as an optician she rarely gets to pick her daughter,

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Caitlin, up from school.

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But today is a day off and she's looking forward to the school run.

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It's nice because it gives me an opportunity to catch up with her.

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Catch up with her friends, see what she's been up to.

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It's 4pm when Sonali arrives at school and gets out of the car.

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Caitlin was going to get into the back seat of the car,

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and I told her that she couldn't do that because the car was full of

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shopping. I told her to climb in through the driver's side into the

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passenger seat.

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At that point I felt the car moving.

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Somehow the car is rolling backwards,

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Sonali needs to get back in to stop it.

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I panicked. And natural mother's instinct kicks in.

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Your daughter is inside the car, the car is moving.

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My first instinct was try to get into that car.

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But before Sonali can get behind the wheel, she's knocked over.

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The open door swept me off my feet,

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and the next thing I knew I was lying on the floor,

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on the grass, looking at the driver's side tyre coming towards me.

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A little voice inside my head said,

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"Sonali, that tyre's going over you...

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"Whatever you do, do not let it go over your head. You'll be dead."

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She manages to get her head out of the way,

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but the car continues to roll right over her chest

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to the horror of other parents.

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I could hear voices around me, screaming, shouting,

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saying, "Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!"

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Thankfully, the car comes to a halt,

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a member of staff in the school building calls 999.

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This is the recording of that call.

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A witness runs in from the scene with more information for the call handler.

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As the ambulance arrives, by chance, so does Sonali's GP, Janine David,

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also on the school run.

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The ambulance crew were doing blood pressure,

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we checked her oxygen levels and then we realised

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that she'd obviously broken multiple ribs

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and was in a lot of pain, and was struggling with breathing.

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At that point, it was significantly close to being a fatal accident.

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The flying doctors,

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a special emergency medical team able to treat patients at the scene,

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is scrambled to the school field.

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Consultant Craig Williams is one of the trauma specialists on board.

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We saw a lady who was clearly critically ill,

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if not dying in front of us.

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They decide they need to perform emergency surgery

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right there on the spot.

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We gave her an anaesthetic to allow us to cut open the side of her

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chest safely. When the hole was cut in her chest, it allowed her

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collapsed lung to re-expand.

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Sonali was then rushed to hospital by ambulance, receiving

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a blood transfusion on the way.

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She would have probably died within the next 30 minutes if we hadn't

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achieved what we achieved with her.

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Sonali spends nine days in intensive care at Morriston Hospital

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in Swansea. As well as a collapsed lung, she has a broken collarbone,

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shattered shoulder blade, spinal fractures and broken ribs.

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Defying all odds,

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she leaves hospital 12 days later and eventually makes a full recovery.

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To return to effectively normal, I think, is a miracle.

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It makes me feel very grateful. I should have died that day.

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But because of the care that I got,

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both from the air ambulance and the trauma surgeon,

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-I'm here to tell the tale.

-She's the most lucky person I know.

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Coming up...

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..a British kite surfer is pulled

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from the waves after a stunt goes wrong.

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His life is on the line.

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Seeing his body so lifeless, I thought it was fatal.

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Back to Queensland, Australia,

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where 63-year-old Geoff Keyes has been lost in the outback for

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more than 20 hours after swimming the wrong way down a creek.

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He has no food and is barefoot.

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Three rescue helicopters are out scouring the area searching for him,

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but so far there's been no sign.

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Geoff's still confident he'll find his own way out of the bush,

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but he's in tough territory.

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It's a very dangerous place, everything from wild boars to crocodiles,

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to all sorts of spiders and insects that live within that bush.

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In order to keep going you have to tell yourself something, otherwise,

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if I'd said to myself, "Oh, no, there's going to be crocodiles around,"

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well, what was I going to do?

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This is Geoff's second day lost in the bush.

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As he continues to push on, swimming along the creek,

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desperately trying to find his way back to camp,

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he comes across a sandbank.

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I had a bit of a light bulb moment,

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I thought, well, if I write some kind of message on there,

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if those helicopters do happen to come down this way...

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So I just wrote the word "help" on the sandbank and then I wrote 28/07,

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being the date that I was there.

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And then I drew an arrow pointing downstream which was the direction

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in which I was travelling.

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It's now 6pm.

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The thing in my mind was, "Just keep going,"

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all the time I'm keeping going it's easy to suppress the lurking fear

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that, obviously, was in the back of my mind, you know,

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what would happen if I wasn't found or didn't find a way out it?

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Geoff swims on, but soon starts to tire.

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He's been drinking water from the creek,

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but he hasn't eaten for over 26 hours and he's extremely weak.

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It's another sleepless night in the bush for Geoff.

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After two days of searching and still no sign of Geoff,

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the rescue team are losing hope of finding him alive.

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Michael Reed is the helicopter pilot.

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He is searching likely areas with coordinator Brad.

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I said, "How about we go..." He said, "We can go back now."

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I said, there's another one just up there. We'll go have a look.

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So we flew down just a little bit further.

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Suddenly, something catches Brad's eye.

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I didn't see it. But he just goes, "What's that on the sand?"

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I said, "I don't know. I didn't see anything."

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He said, "Go back around," so I circled back around again, and sure enough,

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on this sandy bank is a big help sign.

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It was amazing to see that.

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With new-found optimism, Brad and Michael push on with their search.

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But after scouring the bush further downstream there's still no sign of

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Geoff.

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But he can see them.

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I was resting up on the bank, and I saw this helicopter fly over.

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I just leapt off the bank, out into midstream,

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by which time the helicopter had gone out of sight.

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I was just standing there yelling at it, "Come back!"

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I was yelling, "Come back! Come back!"

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But Brad and Michael still don't see him.

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They turn around and begin their journey back to base.

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As I fly, I bank hard right, and then as I come back around left,

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to get on the left-hand bend,

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I see a flash of white.

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At this point, I turn to Brad, I go, "I think I've just seen him."

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And he goes, "What? Where?" And I said, "Straight down there. I'm not sure but I'm going back around."

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I was just waving like this, waving my hands, you know,

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jumping up and down. And hoping that would help them see me.

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Sure enough, there is Geoff, on the river bank, going like this.

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All I can see is a British national. I could see his white head and white arms.

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So that was a pretty amazing feeling.

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And this time I got a wave from someone in the helicopter window.

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And I just collapsed like that, almost.

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The fact that we had seen him waving indicated to us that he was at least

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alive. That feeling compares to nothing else.

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Nothing else. Three days of hard work,

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looking for a needle in a haystack.

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And there it is.

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At that moment, they'd seen me, I knew that everything was going to be OK.

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My ordeal was over.

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Geoff has been found an extraordinary 15km from where he started out

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on his adventure.

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Michael lands the helicopter 600 metres away from him

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and Brad heads towards his position.

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Eventually I saw someone wading downstream towards me,

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and that turned out to be Brad Foat.

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I said, "Geoff, you've got a lot of worried people at home, mate."

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I shook him by the hand and I said, "I'm so glad to see you, mate."

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After 47 hours in the bush, with his bare feet cut to ribbons,

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Geoff is too weak to make his own way back to the helicopter.

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So Brad calls for assistance in the form of a winch chopper.

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This footage shows the winchman being lowered down to Geoff in the creek.

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Chris, the winchman, came down and clipped me to him, and he said,

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"Right, Geoff, just cuddle me. We're going up." So that's what I did.

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Wrapped my arms around him, and up we went.

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We were just winched up into the helicopter.

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The rescue chopper's own camera shows a relieved Geoff clinging weakly

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to Chris just before they're pulled safely onboard.

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His ordeal is finally over.

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Geoff spends the night in hospital,

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and then rests up for a few days in a hotel, so his feet can heal.

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He's then straight back on his bike to continue his adventure.

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But this close call has taught him a lesson or two.

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It kind of brought home how much at risk I was

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and how disastrous it could have been.

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Nine months down the line,

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I still feel guilty about all the hassle I caused people.

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I'm conscious of how easy it is, especially in somewhere like Australia,

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to get yourself into trouble.

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Cape Town, South Africa.

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Former British kite surfing champion Lewis Crathern is competing in

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the world King of The Air trophy.

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I think, "Right, just one more heat and I can be in the final, I can get on the podium."

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This footage, filmed by a spectator on the beach,

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shows Lewis launching himself over 60 feet in the air.

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Then, disaster.

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The trick's gone badly wrong, Lewis slams into the water backwards.

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He is knocked unconscious and sinks below the surface.

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He needs help fast.

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30-year-old Lewis Crathern grew up in the seaside resort of Worthing,

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West Sussex.

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I think my parents, certainly, I've always been a bit of a, if you like, the wild child, maybe.

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I was always into flipping off buildings and skates and things like that.

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He was just, almost like a bit agitated.

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He just felt like he had to explore further than his years, most probably.

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That's how he's been from as long as I can remember.

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It was the wet and windy conditions of a typical British summer that led

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to Lewis finding his passion in life.

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I was brought up right on the beach,

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I thought how could I possibly use this weather to my advantage?

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I saw kite surfing take off just around here, and I thought, "Wow,

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"these guys are going so high and jumping, all with just the power of the wind."

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That's how I got into it. I thought I had to do this.

0:21:290:21:32

And then the bug took off.

0:21:320:21:35

Strapped onto a board, kite surfers control a large sail to propel

0:21:370:21:42

themselves across the water.

0:21:420:21:44

Expert surfers like Lewis use the wind to lift themselves high,

0:21:440:21:48

up to 70 feet in the air, so they can perform gymnastic flips and tricks.

0:21:480:21:54

It's ultimate freedom, away from the land, on the ocean.

0:21:560:22:01

It's the battle against the elements, which is incredible.

0:22:010:22:05

Lewis became British freestyle champion at 21 years old,

0:22:090:22:13

and six years ago, he famously was the first kite surfer to leap Brighton Pier.

0:22:130:22:18

And so I've been able to travel the world and different places through the sport of kite surfing.

0:22:180:22:24

When he started to get ranked in the world, that was a big deal.

0:22:240:22:28

Every year the best kite surfers in the world gather for

0:22:290:22:32

the King of The Air competition in Cape Town, South Africa.

0:22:320:22:35

Lewis is competing, and this year is going brilliantly.

0:22:350:22:39

He's through to the semifinal.

0:22:390:22:41

His girlfriend, Courtney, is watching from the beach.

0:22:410:22:45

There were thousands of people, and he was doing so well.

0:22:450:22:48

We had such a good feeling about it because he'd won his previous heat

0:22:480:22:53

over a big competitor.

0:22:530:22:54

I think, "Right, just one more heat and I can be in the final.

0:22:540:22:57

"I can get on the podium at this thing."

0:22:570:22:59

Back home, Mum's getting updates on his progress.

0:22:590:23:01

I knew it was his dream. And I was like, "This is it now,

0:23:010:23:04

"he's going to be on a podium that he's waited for years for this opportunity for."

0:23:040:23:08

The semifinal starts, and I'm feeling really confident.

0:23:080:23:12

I see all the other three riders in my heat jostling for position.

0:23:120:23:16

Shot by one of the crowd, this is the footage of Lewis's semifinal heat.

0:23:160:23:22

Desperate to make the final,

0:23:220:23:24

he prepares to perform his most high risk and spectacular trick.

0:23:240:23:27

-The mega loop.

-The mega loop is the most powerful,

0:23:270:23:31

amazing move in the sport of kite boarding.

0:23:310:23:33

Usually you have the kites above us,

0:23:330:23:35

but if you pull hard on the bar you can loop the kite all the way down and around.

0:23:350:23:40

Off a big wave, Lewis launches himself into the air.

0:23:410:23:45

I went into the mega loop, and then I can barely remember much from there, to be honest.

0:23:450:23:48

I mean, it's a massive jump that he did,

0:23:480:23:51

so there was a loud cheering moment.

0:23:510:23:54

CROWD CHEERS

0:23:540:23:56

But it all goes terribly wrong.

0:23:560:23:59

The minute he hit the ocean it was just quiet.

0:24:000:24:04

When Lewis takes off, his body is in the wrong position, leaning backwards.

0:24:040:24:09

And when he spins, he can't get his kite into the right place to

0:24:110:24:15

straighten up.

0:24:150:24:17

He falls backwards, it's a huge drop -

0:24:180:24:21

the height of three houses.

0:24:210:24:24

Slamming into the sea, Lewis takes a blow to the head,

0:24:270:24:30

and is knocked unconscious.

0:24:300:24:33

He is in real danger of drowning.

0:24:330:24:36

I just knew something was wrong, and I just got tunnel vision,

0:24:360:24:39

and I just ran. I just wanted to get to him as quick as possible.

0:24:390:24:43

With every moment critical, the kite surfers Lewis was competing against

0:24:430:24:48

now rush to his aid.

0:24:480:24:50

This photo shows the one who gets to him first desperately trying to keep

0:24:500:24:54

Lewis's head above the roaring waves.

0:24:540:24:58

Him being dragged out of the water, it sounds weird

0:24:580:25:00

but it wasn't a relief for me, because he was completely lifeless.

0:25:000:25:05

Everyone was panicking. You could see the panic on people's faces.

0:25:060:25:10

Lewis is foaming at the mouth because of the amount of water he's taken into his lungs.

0:25:100:25:15

The event's medical team immediately start treating him.

0:25:150:25:18

This picture shows the shocked crowd watching on as they try to revive

0:25:180:25:22

Lewis with CPR and oxygen.

0:25:220:25:24

Seeing his body so lifeless, I genuinely thought that he...

0:25:240:25:30

I thought it was critical. I thought it was fatal.

0:25:300:25:32

-SOBBING:

-OK...

0:25:340:25:37

To everyone's relief, Lewis then regains consciousness.

0:25:380:25:43

I went from thinking, he's never going to wake up,

0:25:430:25:45

to him being awake and communicating with me.

0:25:450:25:48

And I think that was the biggest relief I felt.

0:25:480:25:52

But this is far from over.

0:25:520:25:53

Fighting to breathe, Lewis is in a very bad way.

0:25:530:25:57

He's taken to hospital by ambulance.

0:25:570:25:59

I felt a great pain in my chest, and I think, naturally,

0:26:010:26:04

I was asking for Courtney.

0:26:040:26:06

I kept saying, "Courtney, Courtney." I was scared.

0:26:060:26:09

In the emergency department, doctors are stunned to find Lewis has no

0:26:090:26:13

broken bones or internal injuries.

0:26:130:26:16

But he's in danger of secondary drowning.

0:26:160:26:19

His lungs are so full of water, they could stop working completely.

0:26:190:26:23

He was only breathing 40% for himself,

0:26:250:26:28

and they said they needed to put him on a ventilator,

0:26:280:26:31

in order to do so they needed to put him asleep.

0:26:310:26:34

To give him the best chance of survival, Lewis is placed into an induced coma.

0:26:340:26:38

His mum and dad fly straight out to be with him.

0:26:380:26:43

When we first saw him and saw the tubes everywhere, I was in shock.

0:26:430:26:47

But there was a bit of relief because I'm with him.

0:26:470:26:49

I'm stood by him and I can be with him all the time.

0:26:490:26:53

It's six days before doctors decide that Lewis's lungs have recovered

0:26:530:26:57

enough for him to be brought out of his coma.

0:26:570:27:01

Would he recognise us? Would he be brain-damaged?

0:27:010:27:05

What would there be there that we would be

0:27:050:27:09

bringing back, so to speak?

0:27:090:27:11

I remember my parents being there, and Courtney was there.

0:27:110:27:14

And it was very surreal.

0:27:140:27:15

It didn't feel like there'd been six or seven days that had passed between

0:27:150:27:19

the event. I thought the event had just happened.

0:27:190:27:22

When he started to come around he only had eyes for Courtney.

0:27:220:27:26

It was beautiful.

0:27:260:27:28

There he was, he was smiling and happy, and the positive Lewis that he is,

0:27:280:27:32

as if nothing had happened to him.

0:27:320:27:35

A couple of months later, Lewis is back to fitness

0:27:380:27:41

and back to kite surfing. The experience has brought him and Courtney closer together.

0:27:410:27:47

Courtney was incredible for me.

0:27:470:27:49

She was always positive, and we got very close during that time.

0:27:490:27:52

It's incredible how quickly, just about over a month,

0:27:520:27:56

month and a half, that he's recovered.

0:27:560:27:58

And that's a miracle because it was not expected.

0:27:580:28:01

He was still meant to be in hospital.

0:28:010:28:04

Courtney's just moved back to Worthing in the UK, with me, which is great.

0:28:040:28:08

So I'm really happy.

0:28:080:28:10

He is absolutely amazing and I'm lucky to have him.

0:28:100:28:13

Some really close calls today, but all with remarkably good outcomes.

0:28:230:28:27

See you next time.

0:28:270:28:29

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