The owner of a commercial fishing vessel has been fined more than $27,000 after its teen helmsman fell asleep and the ship capsized.
The vessel Jan was in the Bay of Islands in the early hours of January 2016 with a 17-year-old deckhand at the helm, Maritime New Zealand said today.
The deckhand had worked a full day and on less than two hours sleep was woken up to take watch. It was his first time being on watch during the night, Maritime NZ said.
The deckhand fell asleep, the vessel went on autopilot and Jan was grounded near Howe Point.
"The grounding woke the skipper and the other crew. The skipper ordered the crew to abandon ship due to the hull being breached and water ingress. Jan then capsized and was a total loss," Maritime NZ said today.