Why you must always surf with a mate: Terrifying moment a surfer is knocked unconscious by a powerful wave - before his friend saved his life
- Justin Firgaira is lucky to be alive after he was dumped by monster six-foot wave
- He was at Knights Beach on the east coast of South Australia when it happened
- The father-of-three was swept underwater and stayed for more than a minute
- His friend Brad Halstead found him unconscious and hunched over in the water
A surfer is lucky to be alive after he was knocked unconscious by a wave and remained underwater for more than a minute.
Justin Firgaira was surfing at Knights Beach on the east coast of South Australia when he was dumped by a monster six-foot wave.
He was knocked unconscious and remained underwater for more than a minute before his friend Brad Halstead found him in the water.
Justin Firgaira (left) was surfing at Knights Beach on the east coast of South Australia when he was dumped by a monster six-foot-wave and saved by friend Brad Halstead (right)
'If he wasn't there who knows, I mean it's murky water as well... if I didn't float up... there's a lot of ifs,' Mr Firgaira told Ten News.
Mr Firgaira was ready to head out of the water and was catching his last wave when he was dumped.
His board resurfaced but the father-of-three remained underwater for one minute and 15 seconds before he rose unconsciously to the top of the water.
Mr Firgaira is still coming to terms with how long he stayed beneath the surface and says he was 'shocked' at how long he wasn't breathing.
Mr Halstead found him hunched over and face down in the water.
He said: 'I dragged him up and the next wave hit so I had to basically bear hug him and try not to let go because he might not have come up again.'
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Mr Firgaira said his body board had even disappeared while he was underwater despite being a flotation device.
'I must have been dragging it down for a while, I must have been swimming in a deep little hole,' the surfer said.
Pulling his friend all the way to shore, Mr Halstead said he wasn't thinking about what he was doing but 'just doing what had to be done'.
Mr Firgaira ended up waking up while on the shore but had no recollection of what he was doing or where he was.
Luckily he walked away from the accident with just a graze on his head and a burst eardrum but is keen to get back into the water.
Pulling his friend all the way to shore (pictured), Mr Halstead said he wasn't thinking about what he was doing but 'just doing what had to be done'
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