New Zealand, 23 April 2024 - It's been a very busy past 24 hours for our volunteers around the country:

Coastguard South Canterbury were called to assist Police with the search for a missing person on the Waitaki River mouth at around 11:15pm Monday night. They spent hours searching, but unfortunately were unable to locate the individual.

At 10:15am today we got a radio call into our Operations Centre from someone experiencing severe chest pains off Raglan. We lost contact with them, but they managed to activate their emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB). The Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ), Police and Coastguard were able to identify the location of the vessel, about 12km off Raglan Harbour.

Coastguard Raglan volunteers crewing ‘Gallagher Rescue’ found the boat anchored at 11:15am, but no one was onboard. Our Auckland Air Patrol volunteers have joined the search this afternoon.

Our thoughts are with the whanāu, family and friends of the two missing individuals.

This morning, at around 6:36am, Coastguard Waiheke volunteers responded to a distress call from a jet skier taking on water near the southern entrance of the Waiheke Channel. The individual had taken all necessary safety precautions, including wearing a lifejacket and carrying two forms of communication (a mobile phone and a radio), as well as a personal locator beacon (PLB), which they activated. Thanks to their safety preparedness, the Waiheke Rescue vessel crew was able to locate them by 7:12am and tow them to safety.

Yesterday, Coastguard Taranaki volunteers faced challenging sea conditions off the South Taranaki Bight as they attempted to help a boatie who had run out of fuel. Five volunteers departed New Plymouth onboard Todd Energy Rescue just after 2pm, arriving on scene 3.5 hours later. With heavy swells and strong winds buffering the tow attempt, they made the call around 9pm to anchor the vessel and return to base with the person safely onboard. At around 11:20pm, volunteers arrived home safely and are working with the boatie on options to retrieve his vessel.

Coastguard Mana also responded Monday afternoon to a call for help from a vessel that had run out of fuel and was taking on water. Despite facing testing conditions during a strong southerly squall and choppy seas at Pukerua Bay, the crew successfully located the boat and brought it alongside Te Awarua Rescue. They transferred the tired and wet crew onboard and towed the vessel back to Mana Marina.

ENDS

Ben Parsons
Coastguard Tautiaki Moana Senior Communications Advisor
[email protected]