Beachgoers form human chain to save drowning boy

NAPIER, New Zealand (WHDH) -- A team effort and a human chain saved a boy at the beach in New Zealand.

Lost in that white water was a 12-year-old boy, seconds away from drowning. Rescuers raced towards the pounding surf.

"When I was in there I thought I was going to die,” said Josh McQuoid.

He'd been playing with a friend at the edge of the water when a wave caught them and dragged him under.

"The waves smashed me so much, there were five really big ones, they flipped me around quite a few times. I think I was underwater, I think the longest for about twenty seconds,” said McQuoid.

Josh was dragged along the beach, fighting for air for eight long minutes.

"Like being in a washing machine you know, just boom, boom, boom,” said Shane McQuoid, Josh’s father.

Josh's friend screamed for help and police at the beach dove into the waves.

"I lost grip about three times, of josh, and was just panicking and frantic to get it back, and a few times under the waves I was thinking to myself, have I done the right thing charging in here, is it going to be two bodies they're looking for,” said Paul Bailey, Napier, New Zealand Police Dept.

But, a fellow officer thought fast to prevent a double tragedy.

"I could see other people up on the shore line, and I started yelling come help us, come help us, form a human chain,” said Bryan Farquharson

Napier, New Zealand Police Dept.

And that human chain pulled Josh and his rescuers to safety.

"I’d love to thank them so much for what they did, they saved my life. If it wasn't for them I’d be dead,” said Josh McQuoid.

Josh was revived by people on the beach, and is expected to be just fine.