The skipper of the Coastguard Hawke’s Bay vessel that searched for missing fishermen off the coast of Te Tai Rāwhiti has described the desperate attempt his crew made to find the missing men.
Three bodies were found on the Māhia shore this morning, believed to be those of Elwood Higgins, Taina Sinoti and Damian MacPherson, the three missing fishermen.
Skipper Henry Van Tuel took to Facebook to detail the rescue effort.
“We became aware of the incident [Monday] afternoon and kept a watching brief as the search was outside our area of operation. Then [on Tuesday] we were activated by RCCNZ as some people in the water had been sighted off Portland Island.
“Although the weather was marginal at best, we made a decision to see what we could do. We left Napier at about 2:30pm and made our way to Portland Island.”
It was off Portland Island that the container vessel African Tiger reported seeing two men in the water.
Henry explained the coastguard vessel was limited to speeds of 12 or 13 knots, compared with its normal cruising speed of 25 knots or more.
He said after hours of travel, the team had only travelled about 50 kilometres due to treacherous conditions, and still had 37 kilometres ahead of it as darkness fell.
He estimated at least another two hours of travel time ahead, which itself would’ve extended the return trip.
“With night falling and not being able to see the waves approaching things were starting to get dangerous for our crew. In addition, the forecast was for the weather to continue to deteriorate.”
“We held a discussion on board and as skipper I then made the difficult decision that for crew safety we could not continue.”
Van Huel expressed disappointment, saying it was “the first time we were not able to complete a task” and saying the return trip was “quite challenging”.
He offered aroha and condolences to the whānau of the three men who died.
A Givealittle page has been launched for them to help with any costs that arise.
More than 150 people had donated more than $13,000 as of 4:15pm on Wednesday afternoon.