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Brinkworth Mick Barb Angus Hahn fishing Port Hughes accident February 3
By Bronte Hewett
A Brinkworth man has spent the last two weeks not only thanking his lucky stars, but a mystery rescuer who found him washed up on a Port Hughes beach.
Mick Hahn was on a fishing trip with his 11-year-old son, Angus, on Friday, January 22, when the near tragedy occurred.
Events which led to Mick’s rescue are still being pieced together and how Mick didn’t drown remains a mystery.
Mick, who admits his memory of the incident is clouded, said he went for a walk after dark on Port Hughes jetty and could have slipped, hitting his head and falling into the water.
Just how he survived the next three hours is not known, but Mick said he can only be thankful he’s alive and did not think too much about what could have happened.
Dazed, he says he thinks he drifted 3km down the coast, before he was found, possibly by an American tourist, who Mick thinks contacted police and ambulance officers who resuscitated him on the beach.
He was taken to Moonta Hospital and was airlifted by Royal Flying Doctor to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, suffering from hypothermia and hypoglycaemia.
SA Police Yorke Operations senior sergeant, Martin Bazeley, said police records showed officers attended early in the morning after a naked man was found thrashing about in the shallows.
The officers called for an ambulance but it couldn’t negotiate the beach, so they transported a paramedic to the scene in their 4WD.
The officers then took Mick and the paramedic to Moonta Hospital.
Mick, still shaken by the horrific experience, said the first thing he remembered was in the Moonta Hospital.
“I came to, and wondered ‘what am I doing here’,” he said. “It was a scary feeling.”
The last thing Mick remembers was packing up the van and going for one last walk on the jetty before he went to bed.
Mick’s wife, Barbara. who was at work when she found out at 9.55am, arrived at the hospital at noon.
Angus had woken at 5.30am, and was surprised to not find his father in their van. Eventually, he went down the main street and found a police officer.
Barbara said the policeman, noticing Angus had the same haircut as the man on the beach, went to the van with Angus and found Mick’s keys and wallet. Barbara said Angus acted with “maturity and bravery” through the ordeal.
While the family is exhausted and still recovery from the shock, Barbara said she wants everything to be normal for her little boy.
“Angus is 11 going on 21, he’s been a real hero in this whole story,” Barbara said.
She also said the level of support from the police and nurses was overwhelming.
“The nurses were lovely, and there were two wonderful officers who need praise,”
“Police have a hard job, and they don’t get praised enough,” she said.
So far, the family has not been able to get in contact with the American tourist who found Mick.
“If it wasn’t for this man, my husband wouldn’t be here,” Barbara said.
The family also said the support from friends was outstanding, in particular Barbara’s boss, who was willing to close the business until she was fit enough to work again. Speaking of the trauma, Mick still found an upside to take away from the fateful trip.
“Prior to that, we had bagged out on the jetty,” he said. Barbara joked her husband’s passion for fishing must have led him to grow gills, for him to have survived.
PHOTO BELOW: FISHING still is very much part of family life for Mick, Angus and Barbara Hahn at their Brinkworth home.
