BOAT owners looked on without helping while three young men floundered in Lake Hume after their boat caught fire, according to one witness who did assist.
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Rutherglen’s Justin Lane said his was not the closest boat to the men when they went in the water, yet he and his friends did most of the rescuing.
"The disappointing part was the number of boats that were hanging around that didn't actually help,” he said.
"We were pretty shocked by that, there were a lot of bystanders.
"One boat went over and tried to help the other fellow after I got two of them, but he was already there well before us, doing nothing."
As reported on Monday, the three men jumped from their inboard motor boat after an engine explosion and fire early Saturday afternoon near Lake Hume resort.
The trio had been rescued from the water before emergency services arrived to put out the fire and tow the destroyed boat to shore.
Mr Lane said he and three friends were trolling for trout on his new pontoon boat near Bethanga Bridge when they saw the fire.
“So we scooted on up there to give them a hand," he said.
Not wanting to overload Mr Lane’s boat, two of the group were set on shore before the other two went to the three men’s aid.
"They were just lucky there were people around to help," Mr Lane said.
"When we got to them, they were struggling.
"Given the water temperature and being fully clothed, no life jacket, plus it doesn't take long for hypothermia to kick in.
"They couldn't climb on to the boat either, we had to drag them up on it by the time we got to them.
"We took them back to the shore, stripped them off and gave them our clothes.
"They were pretty grateful … they were still in a bit of shock and shaken up a bit."
The damaged boat’s owner, a 22-year-old from Kergunyah, told police he had installed a new inboard engine and this had been the boat’s first run since then.
