Dampier drowning attempt: Five-year-old boy saved after man drives car into ocean in Western Australia

A five-year-old child has been rescued after a man allegedly tried to drown the boy after he drove his car into the ocean.

The young boy was rescued after the vehicle went into the water at 6.15am on Monday on the Dampier waterfront, in the Pilbara region of western Western Australia’s northwest.

Karratha police rushed to the scene after reports that a man allegedly tried to drown a child.

Police arrested the man after a women’s fitness group intervened and stopped him from drowning the child

The officer in charge, Senior Sergeant Paul Matthews, said bystanders saw the man drive into the water at low tide before exiting the car and running with the boy into deeper water.

“The tide was considerably low, so he drove off quite a distance and then got out of the car with a small child,” Sergeant Matthews said.

“(He) ran to deeper water where, according to the people who called, he tried to drown the child.”

Sergeant Matthews said a women’s fitness group, which was on the beach at the time of the incident, saw what was happening and ran to intervene.

“Some of the audience doing fitness training on the waterfront were able to run down, wrestle the man and get the kid back,” Sergeant Matthews said.

“I believe it was a women’s fitness group that stepped in.”

Sergeant Matthews added that the little boy was visually impaired but was unharmed during the ordeal and has since been reunited with his family.

The driver has been arrested and is being examined at the hospital.

The incident is under investigation and police have yet to file charges.