Friends and family pay tribute to Kaipara boating tragedy victim Fred Marsters

Fredrick Marsters died in the fishing boat Francie tragedy. Photo / via Facebook

Family and friends of one of the men killed in the Kaipara boating tragedy have paid tribute to him in an emotional church service tonight.

Fred Marsters, 58, died along with seven other men when the boat they were in during a fishing charter capsized. Three men survived.

The father of three and husband of 37 years of Ann Marsters, who is dying of terminal cancer, was remembered by hundreds at St Johns Presbytarian Church in Papatoetoe.

He loved me and his children with a burning passion," his wife said, according to Fairfax.

"The hole in my heart is cavernous."

Hi daughter Tori cried as she told the congregation: "I loved my dad so much, I can't describe how much he meant to me," she said.

Reverend Margaret Ann Low said the horror of the mass drowning was "beyond words".

A funeral for Marsters is being held tomorrow at the Manukau Memorial Gardens Chapel in Papatoetoe.

The boat the men were on, the Francie has still not been found, nor has the body of one of the eight men, Taulagi "Lagi" Afamasaga, 56.