Burnt boat wreck removed from water

MILFORD SOUND

A BOAT which sank following an onboard fire has been recovered from Milford Sound nearly a month after it went under.

Environment Southland harbourmaster Lyndon Cleaver confirmed the vessel, which sank on September 14, had been refloated and removed from Deep Water Basin on Thursday.

At the time of the fire, the Milford Sound Fire Brigade was helped by some fishermen at Milford.

Te Anau Volunteer Fire Brigade chief fire officer Graeme ‘‘Possum’’ Moffat and his crew were unable to get to the site of the fire, which started about 4am, until about 6am, due to weather conditions.

They were later helicoptered in and the fire was extinguished about 9am.

Bad weather and road closures hampered attempts to refloat and remove the boat sooner.

‘‘It was a success — the divers ensured everything went to plan and there was no debris or sign of contamination in the water as the boat was removed.’’

To refloat the boat, divers attached nine 2tonne lift bags and inflated them, while also pumping out excess water to reduce its weight before it was hauled up a boat ramp.

‘‘It was a great effort from the salvage team, who had to deal with Milford Sound’s unpredictable weather in the leadup to the removal.’’

There was evidence of small amounts of water contamination at the time of the fire, however the booms put in place to capture the contamination had been removed from the water.

The boat had been disassembled and removed from Milford Sound for disposal.