Galway backpackers save boat explosion man
Date Published: 01-Dec-2011
By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta
Three Galway girls are the toast of Western Australia after they helped rescue a man from his burning boat.
The star of the rescue, which took place north of Perth on Tuesday, was Leah Roxby of Menlo, a nurse who is currently backpacking Down Under.
Her nursing skills were put into use when she rushed into the water at Denham, north of Perth, to a boat which had just exploded and was beginning to go up in flames.
She helped pull the skipper off the seven metre aluminium jet boat and applied burn cream and cleaned his wounds as they waited for an ambulance to take him to the Royal Perth Hospital.
Yesterday morning, Leah (25), a past pupil of the Jes on Sea Road, spoke about the incident saying she was greatly helped by her friends, Tara Shine and Veronica Dick, former schoolmates and their German friend, Veronika Klein.
“We had just driven into Denham for coffee and were parked by the water when we heard a big bang. We saw smoke coming from a boat, but at that stage we didn’t know if anyone was on it. I asked a few builders if everything was alright and told them I was a nurse.
“They got into the water and called me when they saw that the skipper was on board. There was a large cooler on top of him, so the builders got that off him and helped lift him out. At this stage I was in the water, up to my hips, holding onto the boat and directed them so that he was evenly and safely carried to shore. I held up his head as he wasn’t very responsive.
“We could see that there were flames licking his back and we knew we had to get him off the boat quickly. I cleaned up his wounds, the girls got water to put out the flames. I was told he had 40% burns, but I believe that his condition is a lot better than what was said initially. None of the burns I saw were third degree burns.
Leah from Monument Road has been travelling around Western Australia for the past six weeks and is now heading to Melbourne, where she hopes to find a job.
For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.