34 | August• 2017
ONEBREATH AWAY
“Don’t you die before me,” Saimaa
would often joke. Her mother had
passed away when she was just 13,
and it was unimaginable that she
could be left alone again.
“I promise,” Daniel replied.
A few years later and the dream had
come true. The children, Kalan and
Leilani, were nine and four, and the
family had made the property their
permanent home, with Saimaa com-
muting three hours each week to see
her clients at her Bondi clinic.
That’s where she was that day in
February earlier this year. With the
children at day care and the school
swimming carnival, Daniel, 45, thought
he’d finish the landscaping around a
dam about 50 metres from the house.
He’d been meaning to tidy up an old
rock garden against the dam wall.
Using his three-tonne mini excava-
tor, Daniel started to shift some of the
larger boulders and plants. It hadn’t
rained for a long time and the water in
the dam on the other side of the wall
was very low. He steered the excavator
to the edge of the dam and lowered
thebuckettodragoutaloadofmud.
Just then, the excavator started to
slide with the weight. Used to working
with heavy machinery, Daniel wasn’t
alarmed when the excavator slipped
in its tracks. He quickly lowered the
buckettothegroundtoactasacoun-
terweight and stabilise the excavator.
As he did this, the wall gave way and
the excavator slid towards the water.
In sheer panic, Daniel pushed
himself away from the machine to try
to clear its weight. Man and machine
crashed into the muddy floor of the
dam, the excavator tipped onto its
side and the roll bar landed on his
back just below his shoulder blades.
He was pinned down under the water.
I’vegottogetoutofhere, Daniel
screamed to himself, pulling his body
forwards with all his might to try to
get his head above water. He wriggled
and squirmed until the roll bar was
across his lower back, but he couldn’t
get it past his buttocks.
Jamming his hands into the mud,
Daniel arched his back and pushed
as hard as he could until his head was
above water. He then grabbed a full
breath of glorious air.I can’t die first
was all he could think.D
aniel was fortunate to have
landed facing the dam wall,
with his chest on a step where
the water was only 60 centimetres
deep. Towards the centre of the dam,
his legs were floating in deeper water.
Still, he couldn’t move and 60 cm was
plenty deep enough to drown in.
Daniel’s arm was wedged under his
chest in a push-up position, similar to
an upward dog in yoga. If he pushed
himself up with all his strength, he
could just get his chin out of the water.
He had to calm himself. A surfer of
many years, he knew the only way to
survive in the water was to slow down
and think rationally. He pushed away
the panic and began to think. PHOTO: (PREVIOUS PAGE) ARUNAS