8 missing after fishing boat capsizesHome » News » Regions
Thu, 15 Mar 2012
The Regions: Southland
At least two young children are among eight people missing at sea last night after a fishing vessel carrying a family on their annual muttonbirding trip capsized in Foveaux Strait.
One of nine people who were aboard the Easy Rider, was found alive by rescuers tonight - after 18 hours in the icy waters between Bluff and Stewart Island.
But there has been no sign of the others despite a wide-ranging search.
The skipper of the missing vessel, Rewai Karetai, saved the lives of three people in a similar situation on the same stretch of water in January.
Mr Karetai, 47, set off from Bluff at about 8pm on Wednesday night, bound for Stewart Island on the Easy Rider.
He and eight others - all related to each other and including small children - were heading out muttonbirding at Big South Cape Island, west of the southern tip of Stewart Island.
The vessel was supposed to reach the island by 2pm yesterday, but it did not make it.
A search was launched and this evening rescuers pulled one survivor from the water but had not located the Easy Rider.
Mr Karetai was hailed a hero in January when he towed three exhausted people from the strait in his dinghy after their fishing boat sank.
He was camping on Ruapuke Island, which was otherwise deserted, with his wife Gloria when they heard noises about 250m off shore.
Mr Karetai rowed out in the darkness to rescue Southland farm manager Barry Bethune, 46, and two women in their 40s who had spent more than five hours in the water after their vessel capsized. Mr Bethune's son Shaun and his best friend Lindsay Cullen died in the water of hypothermia.
His aunt Jill Karetai said the family went mutton-birding every year. This trip was the first of many he was set to take for the season.
She said the whanau had gathered Bluff Harbour and waved them off on Wednesday night.
"It's horrible because we know there's some babies [young children] on board and two or three or four at least of my brother-in-laws and nephews - it's just dreadful,'' she said.
Jill Karetai's brothers-in-law Peter Bloxham and John Karetai were on the boat. She said police had told the family the person pulled from water had been wearing a lifejacket. They also said there was an oil slick on the water.
"I don't even know who it was who they've pulled from the water. It's an absolutely terrible, terrible time,'' she said.
"I'm in shock. I'm shaking. We're just waiting and praying that they'll all be okay. But we don't know, we just don't know nothing. It's horrible.''
She said the tragedy was especially "dreadful'' because of Mr Karetai's heroic effort in January.
A source in the Bluff boating community said last night rescuers had started to "find bits'' that had come off the boat in the strait. He saw Mr Karetai, known as Spud, just before he left Bluff.
"The conditions out on the strait were pretty atrocious,'' he said.
"They probably shouldn't have gone. I've been in the business for 45 years and if anyone would know it would be me. I saw the boat before he left.
"Personally, I wouldn't have gone out of the harbour.''
The source said Mr Karetai's rescue efforts in January were admirable.
"And now he's in the same situation himself ...'' he said.
Last night members of Mr Karetai's extended family were rushing to Bluff. One posted a message on Facebook to update the rest of the whanau.
"Rewai boat's missing I'm heading to Bluff,'' Tawhiri Karetai wrote.
"Whanau don't fret I will keep everyone posted when I get more news. They haven't been able to contact Spud. Kia kaha for those on the boat.''
Mr Bethune said tonight he was "devastated'' to hear the Easy Rider and passengers were missing:
"I don't know a lot about Rewai, I just know that he's a genuine, hard-working, honest blimmin that would give you the shirt off his back. To have him potentially be gone, it's just tragic.''
Mr Bethune's wife Debbie said the skipper was an experienced fisherman who often headed out to Mutton Bird Island with his wife Gloria and family members.
"It's just so upsetting to hear about it, we're deeply sorry....We can only but imagine what they've been through as well.''
She said Mr Karetai was a "lovely guy'' who was well known fisherman around his home-town of Bluff. After the incident, she and her husband drove down to Bluff to thank him in person.
"They were very humble, they said `Oh well, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time.'
''...Without them, my Barry wouldn't have been around either, and I just feel sick for them. It's unbelievable, it's such a terrible stretch of water.''
The strait was a treacherous area of water that had claimed a number of lives, she said.
"It is a well-known stretch of water that is quite treacherous, and it is known for it's rogue waves. It's not a particularly deep strait, but it's got a lot of current and a lot of swell. These rogue waves just pop up, and we can only but imagine that's what happened as well.''
She said the Easy Rider was an older fishing vessel.
- By Anna Leask and Amelia Wade of the New Zealand Herald with APNZ
Copied from the Otago Daily Times.
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March 15, 2012, 10:41:05 PM