Boating tragedy: More bodies foundSHAWN MCAVINUE, GWYNETH HYNDMAN, MICHELLE COOKE AND EVAN HARDING Last updated 13:45 16/03/2012
ROBYN EDIE
The coastguard goes out before dawn on the search for people missing off the boat Easy Rider.
LOST AT SEA: Easy Rider, a 38-foot vessel, capsized off Saddle Point at the northern tip of Stewart Island at about midnight on Wednesday.EASY RIDER SKIPPER: Rewai Karetai.
Explaining the rogue wave Boating tragedy Easy Rider may have been 'heavily laden' Devastated at news saviour boat lost Foveaux Strait rescues Investigators probe Easy Rider sinking
LATEST: Two more bodies have been found as the navy says it has likely located the wreckage of the capsized Easy Rider.
Do you have any information? Email us at newstips@stuff.co.nz
Nine people were aboard the 38-foot boat when a rogue wave struck off Saddle Point off the northern tip of Stewart Island at midnight on Wednesday.
A 30-year-old man has been confirmed dead, and two more bodies were found today, Bluff Coastguard president Andy Johnson confirmed.
Five remain missing and a survivor is in a critical condition in Southland Hospital
Johnson said the bodies were found early this afternoon east of the Easy Rider's wreck, in the predicted drift line.
He said the boat was found mid-morning in 40 metres of water by Bishop Island.
The navy ship Resolution had put a camera down and found the boat on its side on the ocean floor. The camera did not detect any people on it, he said.
A navy spokeswoman said she understood a "contact had been found" but was unidentifiable at the moment.
Full confirmation of whether it was the Easy Rider would not be possible until a dive team arrived later today.
FAMILY HOLDING UP
A cousin of the Easy Rider's skipper, Rewai Karetai, said the families were holding up OK but were frustrated at not having any bodies.
''All the elder family members want is for the bodies back. They're being realistic - they don't believe they will get them,'' she said.
She believed some people on board the Easy Rider were trapped in the wheelhouse, and the boat had broken. The current in the strait was fast and the bodies could be anywhere, she said.
Another relative said she would visit the critically ill survivor in hospital this morning.
"We're all gutted because it's a lot of our family," she said.
He was found clinging to a barrel at 6pm yesterday, suffering from hypothermia 18 hours after the boat transporting mutton bird hunters went down.
He was able to pull himself up on to the hull where he remained for approximately two hours before the boat sank, police said.
Southland area commander Inspector Lane Todd said police hoped to talk to him later today.
The survivor told police he was on the deck of the boat with two others when it was hit by the wave, which caused it to capsize almost immediately.
The rest of the passengers were said to be in the wheel house of the boat.
A 30-year-old man's body was recovered last night.
Todd said the Invercargill man's body was found near where the boat was believed to be resting on the sea floor west of Stewart Island.
The man was not wearing a lifejacket when his body was found, Todd said.
Earlier a relative of Shane Topi, whose mum has confirmed he is among those feared dead, said the strait was not a "forgiving'' place.
Opal Topi knew the Strait well - it claimed the lives of her family members in the past, and now her cousin Shane, 29, was among the missing.
"We've been down this road before," she said. "The Strait is not forgiving."
FEARS FOR FRIENDS
A woman who counted two of the men believed to be on the boat as friends, described both as ''teddy bears''.
Rowdy Fisher had worked with Topi and Boe Gilles.
She was closer to Topi, who worked weekend nights on the door while she was a DJ at a local bar, and spent time with him and his flatmates outside of work.
''A mate just called me this morning and said 'he's gone'.''
''[Topi] was a real funny dude, always cracking jokes, just a big cuddly teddy bear. He was always asking about how you were. He was real good on the door, never got rough, but if someone was acting up he would just give them the time of day. He was always very professional with them.''
It is also understood one of the men on the sunken boat, Easy Rider, was Southland man Peter Bloxham.
His father believed his son Peter was on board, but it had not been confirmed.
He was at home waiting for news from police, saying he was not ready to talk about his son.
FAMILIES SUPPORTED
Police iwi liaison officers and a Victim Support team were supporting the families involved.
Bluff Community Board chairwoman Jan Mitchell said this morning the community would do what they could for the families.
"We're rallying," she said.
"The community is rallying together doing what we can."
This week's tragedy brought back memories of the Kotuku, which capsized in the strait six years ago.
"We will be there for the families, whatever it takes. We'll be there and doing what we can. At the moment we are hoping, hoping we will have people come home. If it's different we will, as a community, deal with it at that point."
There had been inquiries into the Kotuku's sinking at that time but people in Bluff were not yet thinking about what more could be done to prevent more tragic deaths of families heading to the Mutton Bird Islands, Mitchell said.
"I'm sure they will look into that at some point ... (but) at this stage, we've got people to worry about."
Two months ago Easy Rider was involved in a rescue in the same waters, when an aluminium catamaran capsized off Ruapuke Island, and two lost their lives.
Karetai, hailed as a hero for that rescue, was on board the Easy Rider when it capsized.
'IT IS DEJA VU'
Karetai family spokeswoman Jill Karetai said 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.
The Maori community in Invercargill, including family members, a priest and Maori social workers had visited her during the evening.
"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.''
She hadn't slept all night and was still clinging on to hope.
Karetai, who had three brothers-in-law and two great nephews on the boat, said she found out this morning that the body of a 30-year-old man had been found, but she had "no idea" who it could be.
Police Superintendent Barry Taylor, Southland area commander when six people died after the Kotuku sank off the Muttonbird Islands, said it brought back bad memories.
"It is deja vu. It is unbelievable it could happen again."
Tawhiri Karetai, elder brother of Rewai, said he lost a brother and first cousins.
"It's a sad time. It's a tragedy.''
Others on board included members of the Karetai family.
Last night Topi's mother, Helen Topi, said police told her yesterday afternoon Shane was on the Easy Rider and it wasn't good.
She said her son hated the water.
In May 2006, Shane's cousin Peter Topi died when the Kotuku sank after being struck by two rogue waves.
Several members of the Topi family were among the dead.
Three people survived the ordeal after swimming about 500m through heavy seas to Womens Island.
Shane's flatmate, Adam Swatton, said he could not swim. He described his mate as a big solid guy with a heart of gold.
"He kept his friends close and his family closer,'' he said.
Barry Bethune, who was rescued by Mr Karetai in January, said he'd been receiving calls from friends and family for the past hour after the Easy Rider was identified.
Bethune said it was hard to hold on to hope, knowing the conditions of the strait.
"I'm just blistering barnacles devastated ... this has brought everything back.''
THE CONDITIONS
Easy Rider was heading north near Stewart Island when it capsized.
The alarm was raised 14 hours later, when Easy Rider failed to make a 2pm rendezvous at Stewart Island.
A MetService spokesman said there was heavy rain and gale force winds in Foveaux Strait at the time of the capsize.
There was also a four-metre swell on the open ocean.
It was cloudy in Foveaux Strait this morning, a MetService spokesman said.
But it was expected to clear later in the morning, and it should be sunny, with light winds, for the rest of the day.
The water temperature in Foveaux Strait was 13degC. In water temperatures between 10 and 16degC, a human's expected survival time was between one and six hours. A person would usually lapse into unconsciousness in between one and two hours.
Cold water robs the body's heat 32 times faster than cold air.
- © Fairfax NZ News
Explaining the rouge waves
Explaining the rogue wave
KIMBERLEY CRAYTON-BROWN Last updated 10:40 16/03/2012
In the past 15 years rogue waves have been cited as the cause of at least six boats capsizing in Foveaux Strait, including the Easy Rider on Wednesday night.
Niwa scientist Richard Gorman said rogue waves were at least twice the size of the significant wave height at the time.
For example, if the significant wave height at the time is four metres, there could still be waves of six to seven metres, he said.
"If it is starting to get above eight metres that is very unusual for the normal sea conditions. If it is over twice as high we define those as rogue waves,'' he said.
"The main problem seems to be they are particularly steep waves, just being a high wave doesn't necessarily cause a problem. If it is a long swell and not particularly steep [the boat] will ride over it, if it is steep it causes capsize.''
Foveaux Strait generally has reasonably energetic wave conditions, Gorman said, and Niwa predictions for the time of the capsize on Wednesday show westerly wave conditions were coming into the Strait.
- © Fairfax NZ News
Easy Rider may have been 'heavily laden'STAFF REPORTERS Last updated 05:00 16/03/2012
Fishermen in Bluff's pubs last night said boats which went to the Titi Islands were frequently loaded up with supplies to repair houses, and some questioned why there were no rules or regulations covering trips to the Muttonbird Islands.
It was more than likely that Easy Rider was heavily laden with building materials and provisions, they said.
Conditions were choppy and skipper Rewai Karetai would have known it was not a good night to sail, they said.
Following his heroics in January, when he saved three people from the strait after their vessel capsized, Mr Karetai said he felt recreational boaties were not given enough education about the dangers of the strait.
He told The Southland Times that Maritime Safety needed to step up and more information on what equipment is needed should be part of that education.
Unless people start using more common sense, get better educated about boating, and heed advice, "people will die saving people", he said.
The capsizing of the Kotuku on a muttonbirding voyage in 2006, leading to the death of six members of the Topi whanau, also raised questions about the safety of the trips.
The Transport Accident Commission, which is also investigating the Easy Rider disaster, found the Kotuku was not seaworthy. It said the way it was loaded, blocked free ports and modifications to the deck had contributed to the capsizing.
A Maritime New Zealand report into the tragedy found the boat was compliant with all stability requirements before it sank.
Ad Feedback
- © Fairfax NZ News
Copied from The Press.
Share Topic
March 12, 2012, 01:52:32 PM