Courtney McIntosh (20), of Albert Town, and Billy Yule (21), from Wellington, were on their way down to the Clutha River at Albert Town on Thursday afternoon to cool off.
They were planning to jump into the river from the Albert Town bridge, as young people do.
As they approached the river bank they saw a man swimming in mid-stream, below the bridge, and being swept along rapidly by the current.
Initially, he ''looked fine'' Mr McIntosh told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
''And then he kind of like gargles and makes bubble noises - he kind of gargled for help.
''We thought ... he's actually drowning.
''So both of us just ran and dived in and swam out to the middle.
''He was like going under.
''We had to fight to keep him up.''
Mr McIntosh believed without their help the man would have ''died, for sure''.
''He was a big guy, a Samoan fellow, and there were just two skinny white boys there.''
The pair managed to ''drag him out'' of the river about 100m downstream of where they had dived in.
''He was just gasping for breath, and then the ambulance came.''
Both said they knew how to swim, but professed no great expertise - ''not good, not bad''.
The man, in his 30s, had been with his partner and two young children on a small island upstream of the bridge when he decided to swim across the river.
Mr McIntosh said the river does not look too dangerous.
''You don't actually realise how strong it is until you get into it.''
The man shook Mr McIntosh's hand and said thank you.
Mr McIntosh, who has lived in Wanaka for 18 months, began work yesterday at Wanaka's New World Supermarket and plans to resume his job at the Cardrona Alpine Resort this winter as a snowboarding instructor.
Mr Yule is on holiday, touring the South Island.
