Fisherman close to death when plucked from rocks

A fisherman was close to death when he was found by a searching helicopter clinging to rocks at Manukau Heads, say rescuers.

The man and two friends were in a 7.4m pleasure boat about five kilometres west of the Heads on the west coast of Auckland when it capsized at 7.30pm yesterday.

All three clung to the hull for an hour as the boat drifted towards the shore before one of them lost his hold and drifted away.

Neville Blakemore, from the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington, said the other two then decided to swim to shore.

The swim took them an hour but it was another hour and a half before they could get to a telephone and call police.

The Westpac rescue helicopter was called and found the third man clinging to rocks at the harbour entrance about 4am today.

Mr Blakemore said the man was kept afloat by a lifejacket but wore only a tee shirt and shorts. He was severely hypothermic and was close to death when he was spotted on the rocks by the helicopter and winched on board.

"It was very lucky he had a reflective lifejacket on."

All three men were taken to hospital but their conditions were unknown this morning.

Meanwhile police divers were due to resume a search of the Motuihe Channel in the Hauraki Gulf today after a man fell from a boat yesterday.

The man is now thought to have drowned after falling from the anchored boat about 5pm.

The missing man's friend went in after him but he told police he went straight down.

No details were available about the missing man.

Motuihe Channel is 11km northeast of the entrance to Waitemata Harbour.

- NZPA