Eight feared dead but one survives clinging to barrel
A SURVIVOR has been found clinging to a barrel for 18 hours in frigid Foveaux Strait after a fishing boat with eight other family members on it sank.
At least two children were on the fishing trawler Easy Rider, which capsized in treacherous waters off Saddle Point at the northern tip of Stewart Island about midnight on Wednesday. Relatives held little hope last night that anyone else would be found alive.
The survivor was found just after 6pm last night and flown to Southland Hospital.
A body, believed to be an eight-yearold boy, was found several hours later.
Southland area commander, Inspector Lane Todd, said the survivor had been found clinging to a barrel and was taken to Southland Hospital suffering from hypothermia.
The survivor told police he was on the deck of the boat with two others just after midnight when it was hit by a rogue wave, causing the boat to capsize almost immediately.
The rest of the passengers were in the wheel house.
The survivor was able to pull himself up onto the hull where he remained for about two hours before the boat sank.
Easy Rider skipper Rewai Karetai, hailed as a hero for a rescue in the strait just two months ago, was understood to have been on board the 38-foot boat.
His elder brother, Tawhiri Karetai, was not holding out much hope, saying he had lost a brother and cousins. ‘‘It’s a sad time. It’s a tragedy.’’ Others were using internet messaging service Twitter to put words to their fears.
‘‘Come home my bro,’’ read one tweet, while another said ‘‘my friends bf dad was the first 1 to be found’’.
Also on board the Easy Rider was 29-year-old Shane Topi, who worked with Mr Karetai and had previously lost family to the Strait.
Mr Topi’s mother Helen said police told her yesterday afternoon that Shane was on the Easy Rider and it wasn’t good. She said her son hated the water. In 2006, Shane’s cousin Peter Topi died when the Kotuku sank in Foveaux Strait, killing six, including several members of the Topi family.
Shane’s flatmate, Adam Swatton, said Shane could not swim.
He described his mate as a big solid guy with a heart of gold.
‘‘He kept his friends close family closer,’’ he said.
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‘We are just living in hope and waiting, it’s like being suspended in ice. It’s like a horror movie . . . it hasn’t sunk in.’ RELATIVE JILL KARETAI
Karetai family spokeswoman Jill Karetai said from Invercargill last night the extended whanau was in shock and waiting for news.
Whanau had told her the missing family members, aged from in their 60s to children, had left on the Easy Rider ‘‘all cheerful last night’’.
They were from all over Southland and were the first batch of the family to go to the Mutton Bird Islands for the season, which they did every year, she said.
‘‘We are just living in hope and waiting, it’s like being suspended in ice. It’s like a horror movie .. it hasn’t sunk in.’’
Yesterday’s tragedy is the second in the strait since January.
The Easy Rider was also linked to that tragedy, after it was involved in a rescue operation of a fishing vessel that capsized near White Island. Two of the five people on board died but three people survived after they were rescued by Mr Karetai who battled heavy seas, tidal currents and high winds to pluck them to safety.
Barry Bethune, one of those rescued by Mr Karetai, said he’d been receiving calls from friends and family last night after the Easy Rider was identified.
Mr Bethune said it was hard to hold on to hope, knowing the conditions of the strait. ‘‘Knowing that Rewai . . .’’ ‘‘I’m just bloody devastated ... has brought everything back.’’
Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt said the disaster was absolutely tragic and he felt powerless to do anything except watch it unfold through the night.
‘‘It seems the last major funeral I attended was the Topi family,’’ he said, referring to the Kotuku tragedywhich was on a muttonbirding trip.
Easy Rider was also making the trip down to Stewart Island carrying supplies to get set up for the muttonbirding season.
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Mr Karetai regularly sailed islands at this time of the year.
‘‘He drops people off for months at a time down there at this time of the year,’’ Jill Karetai said.
The Easy Rider had been heading north near Stewart Island on Wednesday night when it capsized around midnight, police said. The alarm was raised 14 hours after the capsize, when Easy Rider failed to make a 2pm rendezvous at Stewart Island.
A major search and rescue operation was mounted, with boats and helicopters.
A Metservice spokesman said there was heavy rain and gale-force winds in Foveaux Strait around midnight Wednesday. There was also a four-metre swell on the open ocean. ‘‘The sea was probably very rough.’’ The water temperature in Foveaux Strait early last night was 13 degrees Celsius. In water temperatures between 10C and 16C, a human’s expected survival time is between one and six hours.
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