Rescue services continue to search for a person who is still missing a day after a chartered fishing boat with 10 people was sunk in a storm off the New Zealand coast.
Vun
March 21, 2022, 06:59
• 2 min read
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Rescue services continued to search for a missing person on Monday, a day after a chartered fishing boat with 10 people was sunk in a storm off the New Zealand coast. A helicopter rescued five people from the sea, and four bodies were recovered.
The 17-meter (56-foot) boat ran aground and its emergency beacon was activated at 8pm on Sunday in front of the North Cape on the north coast. A helicopter became the first search and rescue vehicle to arrive at the scene at 11:40 a.m., said Nick Burt, spokesman for Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Center.
“The weather really hampered the plane’s response. There were thunderstorms, dangerous flight conditions, so that was the earliest we could get to the scene,” Burt said.
The boat was confirmed sunk at 2:30 p.m., he said. Weather conditions were more favorable for the search Monday, with a Navy patrol boat coordinated, helicopters in the air and ground crews searching the shoreline, Burt said.
Two bodies in the water were recovered by helicopter on Monday morning, and another two were recovered by search vessels, police said.
The five people rescued by helicopter were taken to Kaitaia Hospital and later discharged.
Luis Fernandes, a meteorologist at the New Zealand weather agency MetService, said speeds at rough seas around the North Cape had lifted at the time of the alarm.
But conditions eased in the region later in the night as the search began and the storm system moved south, he said.
The fishing boat had left the northern port of Mangonui on Thursday, the Stuff News website reported.
On board were the captain, a crew member and eight passengers from Auckland, New Zealand’s most popular city, Stuff said.
The captain was among the survivors, the website said. No one else was identified.
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