Canadian tourist named after fatal boating accident

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Police have named the man killed when he was thrown from a powerboat which collided with a buoy in Tauranga harbour yesterday afternoon.

He was Richard Evans, 63, from Canada, who was in New Zealand on a two week holiday with his wife, whose sister lives in Tauranga, Sergeant Wayne Lambert said.

Mr Evans was passenger in the 5.6-metre boat which slammed into a channel marker buoy near Rangiwai Island.

He was catapulted from his seat and trapped beneath the upturned boat for about 20 minutes.

He was unconscious when pulled from the water and could not be revived.

The boat's skipper, a friend from Tauranga, suffered serious head injuries, a broken jaw and nose, and was taken to Tauranga Hospital.

It was understood that the two men had been on a fishing trip when the accident happened.

Local iwi have placed a rahui on Tauranga Harbour for the next three days and police and Maritime New Zealand are investigating the crash.

The accident followed a collision in the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island on Saturday between an Outward Bound cutter and a Dolphin Watch Ecotours boat, which left a woman seriously injured and seven others requiring treatment for minor to moderate injuries.

- NZPA