Trio ‘lucky to be alive’ after capsize

Three local people, one of them an 8-year-old girl, were lucky to be alive according to police after their boat capsized in choppy seas near Rangi Pt in the Hokianga Harbour on Saturday, their rescue prompting a warning to check weather reports before venturing out on to the water.

A 54-year-old man, a 50-year-old woman and the child had set off in a 4.2m fibreglass boat to dredge for scallops some time before noon on Saturday, on-call Northland police search and rescue incident controller Detective Ryan Cooper said, and got into trouble when a rope became entangled in the propeller.

“The adults went to the back of the boat to try and unhook the rope in 25-knot winds, when water started coming into the boat. Before they knew, the boat flipped over and all ended in the water,” he said.

There were life jackets on board but only the male was wearing one.

The others managed to grab the others as the boat went over and put them on, the woman using a cellphone to call 111 for help.

Mr Cooper said a police search and rescue team, together with a Hokianga Coastguard vessel and people on jetskis searched for the trio.

“They spent just over an hour in the water, and ended up on a sandbar. Tide conditions were suitable for them to stand on the sandbar, and a jetski was able to ferry them to a Coastguard vessel.”

They had been taken to Opononi, where they were treated for hypothermia.

“They are blimmin’ lucky things lined up for them.

“The life jackets helped prevent possible drownings,” he said.

People were encouraged to take two means of communication, one of which needed to be waterproof, with them on the water, he added, while winds gusting to 25 knots were not suitable for a fibreglass boat. And life jackets should be worn at all times.