Family happy ‘hero’ Simon has recovered

FORMER Pakenham resident, Simon Broadbent of Cranbourne, the nephew of Federal Member for Monash, Russell Broadbent, is lucky to be alive after playing a crucial role in the rescue of three young people from the Latrobe Valley at Kilcunda on Sunday.

According to his brother, Benson Broadbent, his brother was at the beach body surfing with his daughter Hannah, when three people were caught in the same treacherous rip, at the Trestle Bridge end of the beach, that claimed the life of Sahil Panwar, a Melbourne man in his 20s, who drowned there on Friday night, January 12.

Responding to messages of support on Facebook, Benson assured FB that his brother was recovering.

“The rescuer is my eldest brother. They’ve just finished testing him at the Alfred. He had a mild heart attack induced by the rescue but is okay and will be monitored for a couple of days.

“He wouldn’t consider himself one, but our eldest brother Simon is the hero who went into help rescue the swimmers while he was learning to body surf at the beach with Hannah. He was flown to the

Alfred where testing showed he suffered a mild heart attack during the event. He is doing well and will stay in for at least 24 hours for further monitoring.”

His ex-wife, Elinor, posted similar sentiments:

“The “hero” was my ex-husband and my daughter. He is always putting other people’s welfare first and I’m not surprised at all. I would like to thank everyone who helped, particularly two strangers Cécile and Stefan who stayed with my daughter and helped contact me to come and be with her, to the nurse who helped my ex while paramedics were enroute and to the strangers who handed out cold bottles of water, to the emergency services on such a sweltering day… Humanity at its finest.”

The praise for Simon and first responders has been widespread.

Back in Canberra for the week in Parliament, Mr Broadbent was also relieved to hear his nephew and Simon’s daughter were safe, as well as those rescued.

“Simon might not be the strongest swimmer himself, and I appreciate it was a close call for him too, but we could have been talking about nine or 10 deaths by drowning in the Bass Coast area in less than three weeks without his efforts, and the others involved,” Mr Broadbent said today.

“Honestly, I don’t know how we can combat it. Some people simply won’t listen even when they are warned not to go in but thank God for Simon, and the others.”

Mr Broadbent said the Federal Government’s role with beach and ocean safety was to provide the funding for buildings and equipment, for surf lifesaving clubs, volunteer coastguard and the like.

“We’ve been able to get some funding in our area for these facilities, and a stack more is needed, more regularly, because they are subject to the impact of coastal conditions. We do contribute funding for programs but that’s through the state government which is essentially responsible for surf lifesaving and beach safety.”