Kiwi vessel helps rescue yachties
New Zealand yachties have been involved in the rescue of a pair of distressed Danish sailors after their yacht started to sink near Niue.
Lene Egtved and Kim David Egtved made a distress call from the Gwendoline at 6.15pm on Tuesday after it hit an object in the water and started to sink.
Rescue Co-ordination Centre NZ search and rescue officer Neville Blakemore said the yachties told them they were going to abandon their vessel.
“They were taking on water and were going to abandon the yacht,” Blakemore said.
“We then lost communications with them just after getting their position — which was about 50 nautical miles off Niue island.”
The pair jumped into a liferaft and RCCNZ immediately put out a call to other vessels in the area.
Two yachts, Inspire from New Zealand and Filizi from Greece, were around 10 miles away and responded.
Blakemore said by the time the Danish pair were plucked from their liferaft around 8.45pm, their damaged vessel was sinking rapidly.
The rescued pair are onboard the Filizi, Blakemore said, with it and the Inspire heading towards Tonga. They will arrive around midday today.
RCCNZ was unaware what object Gwendoline had struck to cause it to sink.
A warning had been put out to boaties in the area to keep an eye out, in case it was lying in the water just below the surface, Blakemore said.
RCCNZ search and rescue officer Mike Roberts said the Greek and New Zealand yachts that answered the call for help did a “marvellous job” getting to the site.
“This shows the critical importance of working communications equipment and the absolute necessity to carry survival equipment, especially when sailing offshore,” he said.