Six people owe their safety to a swift response from Coastguard Whakatāne after their vessel overturned while crossing the Whakatāne bar one evening.
The alert arrived in an unusual way. Rather than a radio or phone call, a member of the public ran directly to the Coastguard base to report what they had witnessed. The timing could hardly have been better: volunteer radio operators happened to be on site and were able to act without delay. Whakatāne Rescue II was underway within 15 minutes of the alarm being raised.
As the rescue vessel headed out towards the bar, additional information came through confirming that some of those aboard had managed to reach nearby rocks, while others were still clinging to the upturned hull.
Whakatāne Rescue II arrived at the scene just before 6pm to find all six people had gathered on the rocks. The crew brought every one of them safely back to shore, where ambulance officers were on hand to check them over.
Ccoastguard noted that no bar crossing trip report had been lodged before the vessel headed out. Boaties are reminded to file one before departing and to close it on return. A report left open gives Coastguard an early trigger to investigate and respond.
The quick thinking of the member of the public who ran to the base was singled out as critical to the outcome, with the fading light making the speed of the response all the more significant.
The rescue came just 24 hours after volunteers from the same unit were called out to search for a missing diver in the region. That search resumed the following morning and ended with the recovery of the person's body.
