Beacon guides rescuers through fog to fishermen

By CATHERINE MASTERS

The early hours of Boxing Day were so foggy the crew of the Westpac rescue helicopter were flying blind when they reached two fishermen lost at sea.

They had to follow the beep of a faint emergency beacon to find the fishermen, both in their 40s.

One was from New Plymouth and the other from Rangiora.

They had been huddled in the cold in a liferaft drifting in high swells for several hours about 22 nautical miles off Kaipara Harbour on the northwest coast of the North Island.

When they were finally winched on board the helicopter just after 6am they looked mightily relieved, said helicopter crew chief Joe Naera.

The fishing boat, owned by one of the men, had been taking on water for hours and the two men, both experienced fishermen, abandoned it about 3am before it sank.

Luckily, they did "everything right", said Mr Naera.

They had the right life raft, they were wearing life vests and had set off their rescue beacon.

The beacon emitted an emergency frequency which was picked up by satellite and the co-ordinates were relayed to the helicopter.

Without the faint signal the men might not have been found.

"We had to fly on instruments because we couldn't see visually where we were going. The cloud had come right down and so we were just flying in fog basically ...

"They were happy to see us. They were very, very cold and just wanted off their life raft," said Mr Naera.

The men were taken to Auckland Hospital. Both are understood to be in good condition.

Earlier, a police spokesman said the men had telephoned emergency services about 1.50am, reporting that their boat had "sprung a plank" and was letting in more water than pumps could clear.

Mr Naera said Christmas night and early Boxing Day had been hectic for the Westpac helicopter.

It was called out four times - "we went everywhere" - including delivering a high-angle rescue team to a road accident at Leigh, near Warkworth.

It was then called to pick up a patient from Great Barrier Island, but ended up taking two patients to different hospitals.