Search for missing 18-year-old after boat capsizes off New Plymouth coast
Monday, 22 August 2016
Two friends whose boat capsized off the New Plymouth coast made a joint decision to swim to shore - only one made it.
The 18-year-old who didn't make it to the beach remains missing after their boat over-turned near Paritutu Rock about 1.1km off Back Beach around 6.30am on Monday.
A massive search and rescue operation was launched after the missing man's friend was able to reach a car park and let a member of the public know what happened, about 9.20am.
Police believe the teenager was not wearing a life jacket, although there were four available on the 5.3m aluminum dingy the pair were in when they headed out to check their cray pots.
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Acting area commander Senior Sergeant Thomas McIntyre said the men had made the tough decision to swim for it from near the Sugar Loaf islands, just south of Port Taranaki.
'Whilst they have been swimming to shore the missing male, who is aged 18 years old, has been struggling and the first male has thrown him a lifejacket. It is unknown if the missing male has been able to get that lifejacket,' McIntyre said.
The 26-year-old made it ashore under Paritutu and received serious injuries to his arms and legs but was able to reach the car park to raise the alarm.
'Due to the surf he has sustained some injuries on the rocks and has injured his arms and legs,' McIntyre said.
The injured man was taken to Taranaki Base Hospital where he is under observation in the high dependency unit in a serious but stable condition.
Police had briefly spoken to the survivor, he said.
'It has been a traumatic event for him as well, he has swam a long way to get to shore in trying conditions and that's a miracle in itself.'
Levi Kendall said he knew the missing man and said he had warned him Monday would not be a good day to go out in his boat.
Kendall said he recognised the overturned boat and the man's truck at the boat ramp.
'We had a bit of a chat on the water the other day and I said to him that today wasn't going to be a very nice day but he insisted he was going to go,' he said.
Kendall believed the pair had gone out to check their cray pots when their boat capsized.
Reports came in about 9.25am on Monday that a boat had capsized off Back Beach near Paritutu Rock in New Plymouth.
McIntyre said Port Taranaki's pilot vessel, the Taranaki rescue helicopter, surf lifesavers in two IRBs, Cape Rescue and a fishing vessel were all involved in the search.
'Police are coordinating a search and rescue effort relating to a person missing in the water off Port Taranaki, he's been in the water since 6:30am,' McIntrye said.
He said deteriorating weather weather conditions had hampered the search and as time went on hopes of finding the missing man alive faded.
'As times goes on our hope diminishes and it's a tragedy for the family if that's the case, that we can't locate this young man alive.'
McIntyre said the missing man's family were devastated and were being supported by police.
The search, which extends from the Waiwhakaiho River mouth in the north to Oakura in the south, continued all day on Monday and would resume again on Tuesday morning before being reassessed.
'In the event we cannot locate this missing man we will just take it day by day as time goes on we will make these decisions.
'The currents off Paritutu, they change as the tides change so at the moment they are heading south, as the tide changes we expect the current to turn and move back towards the north.'
In August 2012 Topec instructor Bryce John Jourdain, 42, jumped into the water off Paritutu Rock after two Spotswood College students Stephen Kahukaka- Gedye and Brazilian exchange student Felipe Melo, both aged 17, fell while traversing the rock.
Melo's body was found in a water intake of the power station, just a few hundred metres from where they went into the water, 10 days later while Jourdain's and Kahukaka-Gedye's bodies have never been located.
McIntyre He said the message to anyone heading out on the water was simple.
'If you have got a lifejacket - wear it.'
The rescue helicopter was later called out after a flashing light was spotted off the coast near Tapuae, just north of Oakura, just before 7pm on Monday.
Senior Constable Vaughan Smith said the light turned out to be from a test buoy that had been placed in the sea earlier in the day to measure the current and wind flow across the water.
Smith said searchers weren't aware the light would come on automatically after dark and it needed to be inspected as some lifejackets had built-in beacons.
Surf lifesavers scouring the coast from an IRB returned to shore about 11:30am to re-load with four fresh people to continue searching.
Around the same time maritime radio called for fishing vessels in the area to help.
Surf reports for Back Beach showed 1.6 metre swells and a sea temperature of 14 degrees Celsius.
There were moderate northeasterly winds recording 25 knots offshore. Rain was expected in the area from midday.
A police officer and about 15 members of the public at the scene were searching the coastline with binoculars about 11am.
The rescue helicopter quickly widened its search and was searching along the beach and at Port Taranaki this morning.
More to come.