Baby saved by New Zealand fisherman after he was floating in the sea alone

A baby has been saved by a fisherman in New Zealand after he was floating in the sea alone.

Gus Hutt was fishing near Matata Beach in the North Island's Bay of Plenty when he spotted what he thought to be "a doll" floating in the rip current. When he reached down and touched the object, he discovered that it was 18-month-old Malachi Reeve, floating in the water unaided. Hutt told the Whakatane Beacon:

"I thought he was just a doll. So I reached out and grabbed him by the arm, even then I still thought it was just a doll. "His face looked just like porcelain, with his short hair wetted down, but then he let out a little squeak and I thought 'oh God this is a baby and it's alive'."

Hutt said that ordinarily, he wouldn't have been fishing in that area, but that he decided to change his mind on this particular day. "He was floating at a steady pace with a rip in the water," he said. "If I hadn't been there, or if I had just been a minute later I wouldn't have seen him. "He was bloody lucky, but he just wasn't meant to go. It wasn't his time." Reeve had unzipped the tent he was sleeping in with his parents on the beach and made his way to the shoreline. The toddler was then caught in the current and swept out to sea. When he was returned to his parents he received medical attention. It was confirmed later that he was largely unaffected by the incident.