KEY POINTS:
A Paeroa family are lucky lives were not lost when they were tipped from their boat at Tairua Harbour on the Coromandel Peninsula.
A 54-year-old man is recovering in Auckland Hospital after being flown there following his rescue from a boat that overturned while crossing a bar in the harbour yesterday.
Constable Arama Chase of Tairua police said the incident happened about 3pm.
"Others on the boat included his 29-year-old son and 27-year-old daughter-in-law and their two young children. None of them were wearing life jackets."
As the 4.9m fibreglass runabout approached the entrance to the harbour it foundered on the sandbar and overturned, throwing the family into the water.
"The children were trapped under the boat and the grandfather has gone back under it to free them," Mr Chase said.
"Lifeguards from the Tairua Surf Club were first on the scene and got everybody to safety, the local Coast Guard recovered the vessel a short time later."
Mr Chase said had the grandfather not gone back under the boat it was likely the children would have drowned.
"This incident highlights two key things, the importance of life jackets and equally important, the necessity to check conditions before heading out.
"Conditions at the time of the incident were not good for boating with a large swell and easterly winds, we're very fortunate that we're not reviewing what could have been a double tragedy," he said.
- NZPA
