All five could have lived, say fishermen

By LOUISA CLEAVE and NZPA

All five men involved in a boating tragedy off North Otago on Sunday almost certainly could have been saved, experienced fishermen say.

One man died and two others are missing, believed dead, after a fishing trip off the coast of Oamaru turned to tragedy for five friends on Sunday.

The men abandoned the 6m aluminium pleasure boat Time Out 14km off Kakanui Pt, between Oamaru and Moeraki, at 10.15am and their emergency beacon was activated.

A mayday call was not sent to other vessels in the area until after Ian Anderson, 43, of Oamaru, and Phillip Edwards, 44, of Timaru, were rescued just after 1pm - nearly three hours after they entered the icy water.

Police were officially told of the incident at 1.16pm.

Timaru man Richard Graham Wallis, 63, died and his brother Keith Wallis, 62, of Dunedin, and Tainui Pompey Kani, 42, of Timaru, remain missing.

North Otago Search and Rescue chairman John McLellan told the Herald he had been contacted by boaties asking why his regular midday radio report did not contain a message requesting help for the stricken vessel.

"We did have vessels in the area of this boat. We had vessels that were alongside it 15 minutes before the accident," said Mr McLellan.

He said fishermen had been "getting on my back", asking why he did not let them know five men were in the freezing waters.

"I can only say, 'I didn't know'," Mr McLellan said. "They've got all our [details] on computer up there [at the NRCC].

"It takes one short phone call to the police control centre and they would have had us [sending out a call over the radio] within minutes."

Oamaru charter operator Ted Boraman said yesterday that he was 9km to 11km from where the aluminium boat sank.

Oamaru lawyer Bill Dean, who has commercial fishing experience, said he was in a boat about 6km to 9km away when the vessel sank.

Both men heard about the accident around 1pm, three hours after it had happened.

"I think all [five] could have been alive today if we had been told earlier," Mr Boraman said.

"I understand the man who died did so about 20 minutes before the helicopter found them."

Otago MP David Parker said the rescue time indicated that either mistakes were made by the individual handling the operation, or there were flaws in the National Rescue Co-ordination Centre protocol in liaising with other agencies.

"If you or I were in a national rescue co-ordination centre I would hope you or I would have the sense to take a step to ensure a marine radio call was put out," Mr Parker said.

Sergeant Brian Benn, who was involved in winching the survivors and the dead man from the sea, said he was not happy with the callout procedure.

It is understood Mr Benn was in the Dunedin-based rescue helicopter at the request of the pilot, who assembled his own crew on a gut instinct rather than being instructed to do so by the Wellington co-ordinator.

Around the time that the fishermen activated their emergency beacon, another beacon was activated - on a stationary helicopter near Queenstown - which gave the national rescue centre four potential emergency locations.

The location of the fishing boat was pinpointed by satellite at 10.45am.

Rescue co-ordinator Terry Knight has said it took until 11.17am before he was able to begin dealing with the North Otago beacon.

National Rescue Co-ordination Centre manager Rodney Bracefield said a briefing on the incident would be held in about a week "and obviously we will be looking, as always, to see if there are ways we can improve our service".

Mr Anderson and Mr Edwards were in a stable condition at Oamaru Hospital yesterday, after suffering mild hypothermia.


Critical timing:

* 10.15am: Time Out's emergency beacon picked up by aircraft and National Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington notified.

* 11.17am: Dunedin-based rescue helicopter notified to search for boat. Pilot assembles a crew.

* 11.20am: Satellite pinpoints boat's location off Kakanui Pt.

* 12pm: Helicopter pilot in communication with Dunedin air traffic control.

* 12.56pm: Co-ordination Centre in Wellington notified by pilot that two survivors and one dead winched from sea. A second helicopter sent to join the search.

* 1.16pm: Police notified of incident. Marine radio message sent out to other vessels in the area.