Injured seaman airlifted off vessel nearly 300km off Northland coast

The view of fishing vessel Carmen Tere from the Northland Rescue Helicopter. Photo / Supplied

An injured Indonesian seaman was winched from a fishing boat by the Northland Rescue Helicopter crew in a textbook operation.

The alarm was raised by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington which then contacted the Northland-based rescue team.

Pilot Peter Davies said the fishing vessel Carmen Tere was about 314km west of Cape Reinga when the initial call for help was made on Sunday evening.

That was outside the range of the helicopter so the vessel steamed closer and about 4am yesterday the rescue crew made the 277km dash across the ocean.

"Once we get to a vessel we have a half-an-hour turn-around time so it happens very quickly," Mr Davies said.

The rescue was carried out in what was described as reasonable weather conditions.

A sea swell caused the vessel to roll from side to side but the helicopter crew were able to hover above the stern of the 44m-long ship and lower a paramedic on board.

Once on the ship the paramedic followed crew members to the lower deck where the injured man was found in pain lying on the floor.

Back on deck he was put in a harness and was quickly winched into the rescue helicopter.

The helicopter team flew to Kerikeri and refuelled before delivering the man to Whangarei Hospital where he remained in a stable condition late yesterday.

The rescue team on their way up the winch after collecting an injured crewman. Photo / Supplied

Trawling vessel Carmen Tere was built in 2003 and is currently sailing under the flag of Spain. It works out of Auckland and Napier ports and has previously had repair work done in Whangarei.

Within the first three days of this year the Northland Rescue Helicopter team had carried out nine flights. These followed 90 jobs in December, which was one more job than in December 2016.