Special moment: Crystal Rexter (second from left) with the Search and Rescue team members who rescued her at Greens Lake, (from left) Shepparton's Gary Lovell, Echuca-Moama's Montana Jordan and Shepparton's Stan Jezewski.
“I reached over the side (of the boat). She looked at me, and I said, ‘s*** Stan, she’s still alive.”
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Those were the incredulous words Shepparton Search and Rescue veteran Gary Lovell uttered to colleague Stan Jezewski when they found a woman still treading water at Greens Lake in Corop more than three hours after she had gone missing on December 10, 2020.
The pair and Echuca-Moama Search and Rescue Squad’s Montana Jordan became heroes as they pulled Crystal Rexter from the water alive.
Almost two years later, Ms Rexter came face-to-face with her rescuers again for the first time in an emotional reunion, with the Bendigo resident appearing as guest speaker at the recent Shepparton Search and Rescue Squad’s 50th birthday celebrations.
Ms Rexter remembers that day in 2020 well.
She had arrived at the lake the day before, as part of a camping trip with her five children.
She sat on a chair in the shallows while her children played nearby, including three-year-old son Jimmy, who was paddling in a light plastic kayak.
Suddenly, the wind came up as a storm hit about 3pm, and Ms Rexter watched as Jimmy was taken further from shore.
“He glided on the water like a feather,” Ms Rexter said.
Alarmed, she and her then eight-year-old son Jason paddled after Jimmy on another kayak, while eldest daughter Chantel — then aged 11 — ran to alert other campers to help.
“My eldest son paddled on the kayak and I was on the back. He was trying to paddle and I was yelling ‘go — he’s going to die’,” Ms Rexter said.
“The waves were getting a lot bigger and before I knew it we were in the dead middle of the lake and my three-year-old was metres away.”
A wave then knocked Jimmy off the kayak and Ms Rexter feared the worst had happened to her little boy.
“I tried to push my eight-year-old over towards him,” she said.
“Then I was stuck, with an undercurrent and waves on top.”
Ms Rexter said she saw a man in a boat arrive and jump into the water after Jimmy.
“The last thing I saw was him resurface (without Jimmy). I thought he (Jimmy) was dead,” she said.
Unbeknown to Ms Rexter at the time, the man managed to grab Jimmy on a second dive down into the water, before pushing the kayak, with Jason and Jimmy on it, to safety.
Ms Rexter was left alone in the water and the rescue efforts turned to finding her.
While she was in the water, Ms Rexter could see a helicopter flying overhead and other rescuers on the banks and in boats, as she fought to stay afloat with waves crashing around her.
“I could see the shore, and the ambulance and the chopper,” she said.
“I thought, there’s no way they can’t see me.
“At one point a boat was so close and another helicopter was overhead.”
It was a battle to stay alive.
“I couldn’t float because the waves were too strong,” she said.
Instead she had to tread water to keep her head above the surface.
Thankful: Crystal Rexter (back, fourth from right) and her young family were reunited with her rescuers at the Shepparton Search and Rescue 50th birthday celebrations.
The reality was her rescuers could not see Ms Rexter, with her blonde hair and white shirt blending in with waves that were one metre high.
At 6pm, Mr Lovell, Mr Jezewski and other members from Shepparton Search and Rescue launched two boats into the water.
Ms Jordan had hitched a ride on one to get to the other side of the lake where the search for Ms Rexter was being run from.
Part way across, they saw a flare dropped into the water from a helicopter and diverted to where it landed.
That flare was a check to see what direction the wind was blowing and how strong it was.
This rescue crew did not know that though, and it turned out to be a lucky break in the search.
“We didn’t know what it was (for) but we thought it was something,” Mr Lovell said of the flare.
“We spotted her and I thought it would be a body retrieval.
“I reached over the side (of the boat). She looked at me and I said, ‘s*** Stan, she’s still alive’.
“We pulled her over the side and Montana cuddled her all the way to the shore.”
Mr Lovell remembers the storm that came up quickly that afternoon.
“There were really big winds and the temperature dropped 10 to 15 degrees,” he said.
Ms Rexter entered the water after Jimmy about 3pm, and was not found until 6.10pm.
“I’ve been a diver for a lot of years and have recovered a lot of bodies,” Mr Lovell said.
“It’s the first one I’ve plucked someone alive from the water. We save a lot of people from cars (accidents), but not often from the water.
“It was a very good outcome, especially for the length of time she was in the water, how cold it was, and how rough it was.”
For Mr Lovell, being able to see Ms Rexter again at the squad’s birthday celebrations was a rare moment.
“It was a bit emotional,” Mr Lovell said.
“We don’t often get to recover people alive. And we don’t often hear from people afterwards to hear how they are (now).
“Over the 43 years I’ve been in the squad, I’ve had half a dozen people thank us.
“You don’t normally hear back from the injured, or (know) whether they even know we were involved.
“It was really good to be reunited with her and her family.”
For Ms Rexter it was a great opportunity to thank those who had found her in the water that day and to meet their families.
“There were a few tears welling in everyone’s eyes,” she said.
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