Fishing crew in dramatic rescue

GREYMOUTH - Two Nelson fishermen were plucked from their liferaft this morning after their fishing trawler sank about 130km south of Greymouth.

The crew of Challenger II, a 50 tonne, 17m boat believed to be owned by the Fortune Fishing Company in Whangarei, radioed a distress call at 1am, initially requesting a portable pump when their engine room flooded.

Shortly afterwards, the call turned to a mayday and the two men abandoned ship in their liferaft in 2m swells.

The Challenger II sunk around 3.45am.

The men were rescued by the factory stern trawler Amaltal Columbia, the large 38-man crew ship picking up the men in its rescue craft about 6am.

Columbia captain Shane Wells, who was just about to go to bed, said they heard over the Greymouth maritime radio that the men were requesting a pump.

"I couldn't hear his end of the conversation but I understand he was taking on water."

Thirty minutes later when the mayday came out he was about half an hour away, 28 miles off the coast.

The Columbia crew spoke with the Challenger captain and then headed for its position, travelling at 13 knots but the crew abandoned ship 30 minutes after the last call.

"Before they left they knew we were on our way, about 30 minutes away."

Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre also dispatched a rescue helicopter from Te Anau with special night vision equipment on board.

Centre spokesman Lindsay Sturt said the men kept in touch with rescue authorities from a cellphone in the liferaft.

As the Columbia approached around 6am the Challenger crew fired off two flares, which Mr Wells spotted, guiding the large trawler slowly to the liferaft by the men using a flashlight.

The weather was poor with rain and reasonably high seas. "There was not a lot of wind but possibly a 2m swell, so for a small boat it took a bit of a pounding."

The crew was taken on board, where they showered and were given spare clothing.

The helicopter arrived to winch them off the bow of Columbia about 7am. Mr Sturt said the two men were suffering from shock, but were otherwise unharmed, and they w ere taken by the helicopter to Hokitika.

Mr Wells said the boat owner was depressed by the vessel s loss, but relieved that he knew help was coming and they would be rescued.

Mr Sturt said Maritime New Zealand would investigate the incident. "We'll have Accident Investigation talk to the fishermen and the company."

- NZPA