Canterbury resident Simeon Taylor was in Twizel to sell his car when he decided to drive down to a spot near the Ohau "C" Canal and Lake Benmore early on November 29.
There he met a man who had got his car stuck in the river.
Ten minutes later he found himself leaping into the frigid waters in an attempt to save the man’s life.
"Many people would have done the same, but it takes a lot to willingly put yourself at risk, even though you’re not conscious you are when you’re doing it."
Mr Taylor was helping the man try to tow his vehicle out of the river and had been chatting, joking and moving rocks for about 10 minutes.
When he got into his vehicle, he just heard a "splash".
"I went into primeval mode and ran across that water like a gazelle ... How I didn’t slip over, I don’t know."
Both went into the river, and Mr Taylor made sure the man’s head was above water while he acted as a barrier between the man and the river’s floor as the pair were swept down by a swift current.
"I was not having much success of stopping our egress down the river. I was evaluating the bank and couldn’t see anywhere to land him."
Eventually he managed to drag them out of the river, on to an area of the riverbed roughly the size of a picnic table, started CPR and called emergency services.
"This person was twice my body weight, as I said. I went into primeval to try to save him ... I almost died myself in the process."
Unfortunately, the man died at the scene due to a medical event.
Twizel firefighters were the first to arrive and were soon joined by police and Hato Hone St John.
"They were all amazing, all the first responders - in such an isolated spot, they did an amazing job."
Mr Taylor said he did not even think, just acted.
"It’s when you’re walking down the beach and you see a fire and you want to go up and stand around it ... when you are part of that bonfire and you just want to put your piece of wood on, that’s the primeval bit.
"It’s inside you."
Mr Taylor said everyone had it in them to act in such a situation.
"The policeman said to me, ‘you’re a hero’ ... I said, ‘no, I just went primeval to try save this dude, but I’m not a hero’."
