AT least two people had narrow escapes from death in floodwaters in the Western Division one weekend in April 1974.
In one incident, a lorry driver dived into a flooded open sewer to save a young girl from drowning in Lautoka.
In the second near mishap, a villager rescued himself by desperately grabbing a tree after floods swept him about 300 yards down the swollen Nadi River.
The two incidences were reported in The Fiji Times on Saturday, April 27, 1974.
The girl, Sarah Dyer, was walking along Drasa Avenue to Jasper Williams School when she slipped and fell into the drain while squeezing past a car parked on the bridge at the junction of Drasa Avenue and Vomo St.
Akbar Khan, 27, of Waiyavi was driving to work and heard people shouting that a girl was drowning.
“I parked my car and dashed out,” he said.
“I saw the girl being swept by the water, her head bobbing up and down.”
Mr Khan dived in, swam to the girl and pulled her out.
“What surprised me was that several people were standing and shouting but no one did anything to save her,” he said.
A spokesperson for Jasper Williams School said the open sewer was a hazard to children during wet weather.
In the second incident, Asaeli Drauna, of Nawaka in Nadi, was swept away by strong currents while trying to cross the river morning after a visit to Namotomoto Village.
