Mick Hahn had taken his 11-year-old son on a successful three-day fishing trip to Port Hughes and after two days they already had plenty of squid and fish fillets on ice in the esky, but now this!

Angus left the van to scout around, heading down the jetty and taking the opportunity to catch a couple of nice squid while he was there. It was then that he became aware of ambulances and paramedics further down the coast, and a 4WD heading across the beach towards the rocks.

He didn’t think too much of it until he next went to look inside the shop and heard people talking about a man’s body being recovered from the beach.

Seeing a policeman nearby, looking for a vehicle, Angus asked him, “Do you do missing adult reports?” The officer, seeing Angus’s very short hair, responded, “Does your dad have a haircut like yours?” Angus said “yes”, and, when requested, searched the van and found his father’s wallet and car keys, thus solving both the mystery of his missing dad and of the unidentified man found unconscious at the water’s edge, 3km away!

A police investigation subsequently pieced together the story:

Mr Hahn had strolled along the Port Hughes jetty for a last walk before bed and slipped on some bait, invisible in the darkness. He fell and hit his head, landing unconscious in the water and drifting 3km along the coast before being washed ashore.

Three hours later, an American taking a last walk along the beach before leaving the district, found Mr Hahn near the water, face down and unconscious.

He was taken to Moonta Hospital, then airlifted by the Royal Flying Doctor Service to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, suffering from hypothermia and hypoglycaemia.

Blood tests revealed no drugs or significant level of alcohol in his system (nor, was any evidence found that his passion for fishing had led him to grow gills, as his wife Barbara believes he must have, to have survived!)

The family expressed their sincere thanks to Kadina police officers Rob Tucker and Lawrie Rowe, for looking after Angus and taking him to join his father at Moonta Hospital.

Mr Hahn is recovering at home.