Five people died when a rogue wave hit the Enchanter fishing charter near Murimotu Island in March. Photos / Supplied
Five people died when a rogue wave hit the Enchanter fishing charter near Murimotu Island in March. Photos / Supplied
Four survivors of the Enchanter fishing charter tragedy have revealed dramatic details of their ordeal - including the moment a rogue 10m-wave crashed into their boat, surviving for hours in freezing water, and how they were rescued.
In a Newshub documentary aired on Wednesday night, Shay Ward, Kobe O'Neill, Ben Stinson and Jayde Cook spoke about the tragedy - six months after the boat, one of three operated by the Enchanter Fishing Charters, overturned on March 20 during a five-day trip to the Three Kings Islands north of Cape Reinga.
The men, as well the boat's skipper and charter company founder Lance Goodhew, were pulled from the water in an extraordinary rescue effort- but Cambridge men Richard Bright, 63, Mike Lovett, 72, Geoffrey Allen, 72, Mark Walker, 41, and Mark Sanders, 43, from Te Awamutu, all died.
In the documentary, Newshub Investigates: The Enchanter Tragedy, the men detail how they set out on a "bucket list fishing trip" which cost them close to $2000 each.
After three days of fishing, they took a route around the North Cape in their journey home, but not before trying to anchor for dinner.
Between 15 and 20 minutes later, O'Neill was cooking for the crew when a massive wave - Ward told Newshub it was "at least 10 metres tall" - crashed onto the vessel without warning.
It is believed the wave hit just before 8 pm near Murimotu Island, taking out the boat's flybridge.
The men were plunged into the water with glass and debris scattered everywhere.
Struggling to breach the surface, they feared they would drown.
"I saw the light flash before my eyes and thought, 'f***, I'm gonna die," O'Neill told Newshub.
He was dazed when he finally managed to breathe again, O'Neill said, but quickly came to as he surveyed his surroundings.
According to Cook, the seriousness of the situation wasn't immediately clear - he was expecting to see all his mates, laughing at him for falling off the boat.
But their thoughts soon turned to finding those unaccounted for - Bright, Lovett, Allen, Walker and Sanders - and the fight for survival.
A lifeless Lovett was found floating in the water and pulled onto the roof of the boat in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to save him.
Walker was in one of the beds when the wave struck, and was trapped inside as the water rushed the cabin.
"Sitting in a pile of dead fish, that woke me up pretty quickly, [I thought that] something's going to come get me," O'Neill said.
Kobe O'Neill was a senior deckhand on the Enchanter and survived the capsize.
As the last of the sun started to fade, the men tried to scramble up slippery pieces of debris, trying to save themselves from the freezing waters and what lurked beneath them.
"I thought about dying, I thought about how I was going to die, but I didn't think I was going to die," Ward said.
Ward and Cook sought refuge on the hull and Stinson, Goodhew and O'Neill were on the roof of the boat, which quickly drifted away from the other two men.
An EPIRB (emergency positioning-indicating radio beacon) later floated onto the roof of the boat, which the men grabbed and immediately used to send a signal picked up by the Rescue Coordination Centre in Wellington.
Ward, who had a pregnant partner at home, said he thought about getting home to her while clinging for his life.
He was bleeding heavily from an injury on the top of his thigh, and confided in Cook that he thought he was bleeding out as they drifted in the darkness, getting smashed by oncoming waves.
"The boat was upside down, the props are spinning, there's black smoke everywhere," Ward said.
Next to him, Cook tried to call for help with a phone that, in a life-proof case, somehow still worked. An emergency call from the phone also helped alert rescuers.
Brenda Bright, the widow of Richard Bright who died on the Enchanter. Photo / Mike Scott
After three hours in the freezing water, clinging for their lives, a helicopter appeared and took them to safety on the shore.
While investigations by Maritime New Zealand and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission into the tragedy are ongoing, the survivors are still coming to terms with the loss of their friends.
"It's tragic, five men, five families you know ..." Cook said.
"It's not an easy thing to go around and meet a bunch of people you had never met before and tell them how their loved ones spent their final days, but it's a necessary thing to do," Ward shared.
Stinton said it was one of the hardest things he's had to do.
"You think that they are not going to want to see us, but they were incredibly supportive."
He also revealed he was still struggling with feelings of survivor's guilt. Asked how he was dealing with it, Stinton replied: "I'm not sure whether I am dealing with it or not."
