Passengers in fear as cruise ship bears down
A fisherman who helped rescue an inflatable boat and its four young passengers after they were nearly run over by a cruise ship in Tauranga Harbour says the boat had run out of fuel.
The 122,000-tonne Celebrity Solstice had to alter its course at the last minute to avoid running over the inflatable, apparently unable to move out of the ship’s path.
Bay of Plenty harbourmaster Peter Buell estimated the 317.2m ship came within a few metres of hitting the 3.5m to 4m-long inflatable. Boats are meant to stay 50m from the side of a big ship and at least 500m from the bow.
It was one of the closest calls he had seen in five years as harbourmaster, and he said it would have given the four passengers “the fright of their life”.
“Thankfully, there was enough room for the ship to make a small alteration to its course . . . and avoid running it over. It could have been much worse.”
Video of the incident, timestamped to the evening of December 14, was posted to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Facebook page on Wednesday as a reminder to recreational boaties of rules requiring them to stay clear of ships coming in and out of the Port of Tauranga.
The cruise ship bears down on the incapacitated inflatable, narrowly missing it as it passes alongside.
Two other boats zoom in to help, and one tows the inflatable out of harm’s way.
A Mt Maunganui man, who did not want to be named, said he was returning from a day’s fishing with workmates when they spotted the inflatable in trouble.
He said the liner missed the inflatable — manned by two women and two men aged about 18 to 22 — by two or three metres.
“It was incredibly close.”
As cruise ship passengers peered over the side, his crew threw a rope to the inflatable and they towed it to shore in Pilot Bay.
“The boy was pretty shaken up and embarrassed and the girls were pretty freaked. One girl said to me, ‘We could have died, eh?’
“There was definitely a look of fear on their faces.”
He believed the boat had run out of fuel and lost an oar. He could not see any lifejackets.
The fisherman said he was just “in the right place at the right time”.
“That is just what you do when you are out on the water. If you see someone in distress, you go to their aid, no questions asked.”
Coastguard manager Dane Robertson said the organisation was not called to the incident, but encouraged boaties to always have a radio.