December 21 2015

Man pulled from water by Coastguard Volunteers yesterday lucky to be alive

At 1547 hours yesterday afternoon Coastguard’s Northern Region Operations Centre received a call from a woman whose partner had called her panicking as his boat was quickly taking on water. He was unable to give specific details of where he was other than that the partner was able to advise Coastguard Radio that he had left Great Barrier Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf and was heading to Sandspit.

Kawau Rescue was tasked from the Kawau Bay area alongside Coastguard Air Patrol to start a search for the man made difficult by the large stretch of water and sea conditions brought about by the day’s winds.

At 1659 just an hour after the initial call Kawau Rescue located the man floating amongst debris of the vessel which was then just above the waterline nearby and pulled him to the safety of the Coastguard Rescue Vessel. Hypothermic and disorientated the call was made by the Coastguard Skipper to ask for medical support and with that the Westpac Rescue Helicopter responded from Auckland. A paramedic was winched onto the rescue vessel and following an assessment cleared him for transport as a status 4 by Kawau Rescue to Sandspit.

Mark Leevers, Coastguard Duty Officer says “This is an example of how the unexpected can happen so quickly out on the water. The man was prepared in that he was wearing his lifejacket and had recently purchased flares and an EPIRB from TradeMe as we understand it the previous week.” “

It’s a reminder of the importance of carrying appropriate forms of communication. The VHF Radio continues to be number one for us as far as communications goes as if we can’t hear the person in trouble it makes an efficient search and rescue effort more difficult. The area between Great Barrier Island and Sandspit is vast and it’s just fortunate that Coastguard Volunteers located him when they did” says Mr Leevers.

“As it turns out he had deployed his EPIRB which activated the Rescue Coordination Centre however the beacon was registered to its previous owner and was not GPS fitted so required additional time for another pass of the satellite to provide a location” says Mr Leevers providing an important reminder for boaties to ensure they register their EPRIB or Personal Locator Beacon and carry appropriate means of communication when you hit the water this summer.

What was really pleasing to rescuers was that he was wearing a lifejacket says Mr Leevers. Coastguard crew believe had he have been there much longer the outcome could have been very different.

ends

© Scoop Media