Police despair at boaties not heeding water safety messages

By JO-MARIE BROWN

Police are worried that boaties are risking their lives by ignoring water safety messages after three men and two children had to be airlifted off sandbars on the East Coast.

Senior Sergeant Maui Aben of Gisborne said the group became stranded on two separate sand bars near the Wairoa River mouth on Saturday night after their 5m aluminium boat was hit by a wave and overturned.

Only the children were wearing lifejackets.

They and another adult had been dropped off at a sandbar to fish before the boat sank, and they all remained safe out of the water at all times.

But the other two men, who continued out to sea to take out a fishing line, were thrown overboard and had to swim to another sandbar, 250m from shore.

They spent three hours battling the incoming tide before the Lowe Walker Rescue Helicopter from Hawkes Bay airlifted them to safety about 9pm.

Mr Aben said he was concerned that people were still taking risks when venturing out into the sea, despite water safety measures having been well publicised this summer.

"Knowing about boat safety and practising it are two different things." Mr Aben said. "It could mean the difference between life and death."

At one stage the two men, aged 29 and 31, left their sandbar and moved further out to calmer but deeper water. They were treated at Wairoa Hospital for exhaustion, but were not seriously hurt.

The other man and the two primary school-aged children were not injured.

Mr Aben said a deep channel and treacherous current meant none of the group was able to swim to shore, and dangerous conditions at the river mouth had prevented police from sending out a rescue boat.