A person has been critically injured in a ferry incident at Half Moon Bay in Auckland. Video / Dean Purcell
SeaLink NZ will face four health and safety charges after a commercial diver was dragged into the moving propeller of a ferry he was working under - leaving him critically injured, physically scarred and mentally unable to return to the profession.
Former commercial diver Michal Kováč was performing maintenance work on the hull of a SeaLink ferry in Auckland’s Half Moon Bay Marina on the afternoon of May 24, 2023, when crew are alleged to have accidentally turned on the engine.
Speaking from her husband’s bedside in Middlemore Hospital a day after the accident, Gillian Kováč told the Herald it was a “miracle he survived”. She said the experienced commercial diver was climbing out of the water on a ladder when it’s claimed he was yanked back underwater by his safety umbilical cable.
Kováč was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and placed in an induced coma in ICU. He suffered five broken ribs and cuts and lacerations across his face and body.
Kováč has not worked as a commercial diver since the accident and is understood to have had a difficult 15 months recuperating from the enduring mental and physical scars.
The Czech Republic native, who is in his mid-30s, now works piloting a patrol boat in one of Auckland’s marinas.
Maritime NZ has now laid three charges against SeaLink NZ under the Health and Safety at Work Act that relate to a business failing to comply with their duty of providing a safe workplace and not exposing an individual to risk of death or serious injury.
The fourth charge relates to an alleged failure of SeaLink to comply with a previously issued improvement notice.
The case will be heard on September 10 in Auckland District Court.
A former colleague of Kováč's said he had sold his diving gear since the accident and was not mentally up to commercial diving any more.
“He don’t want to dive any more, that’s what he told me,” the colleague said.
Michal Kovác a commercial diver from Auckland, pictured in October 2019. Kovác was critically injured in a workplace incident at Half Moon Bay marina when he was sucked into the propellor of a Sealink ferry at the ferry terminal in May 2023. Photo / Supplied
Police officers board a Sealink ferry at the Half Moon Bay ferry terminal to investigate after the workplace incident was reported. Photo / Dean Purcell
Sealink’s chief executive Grady Cameron confirmed one of the companies in the SeaLink NZ group had been charged in relation to the May 2023 diver incident.
“Sealink is committed to ensuring a safe working environment for all its employees, contractors and customers,” Cameron said.
The company indicated it had cooperated fully with Maritime NZ following the incident and during their investigation and would not be making any further comment while the matter is before the court.
WorkSafe NZ was also investigating the diving company contractors Kováč worked for in relation to the incident, but will not lay charges following an investigation.
“WorkSafe investigated the contractor which employed Michal Kováč when he was injured at the Half Moon Bay ferry terminal in May 2023,” a WorkSafe spokesman said.
“The result of the investigation was that no charges were filed because the requirements of the Solicitor-General’s prosecution guidelines were not met.”
A diving industry figure was scathing of the decision by WorkSafe not to prosecute the smaller diving contractor.
“If we are a particularly hazardous industry and you’ve put a guy through the propeller of a ship that’s had to have four or five surgeries, has had broken ribs … he’s got a scar from his chin to his forehead.
“It’s ended his career because he’s not diving anymore. But WorkSafe have decided that they are not going to prosecute.
“So what’s the message that you’re sending the industry?”
‘Miracle he pulled through’
Kováč's accident was reported to police and emergency services at 2.40pm on May 23, 2023.
Gillian said her husband believed he became unconscious as he got pulled under the ferry after he had been taking photos of the hull of the ship with a GoPro camera.
“He doesn’t remember much, but he just remembers a few seconds going under,” she said.
“It’s alleged that somebody started the engine and he got pulled under.”
Police officers onboard a Sealink ferry at the Half Moon Bay ferry terminal after the workplace incident was reported. Photo / Dean Purcell
Once he was pulled beneath the surface, Kováč's fellow workers immediately yelled to turn off the engine and rushed into the water to retrieve him.
The diver’s supervisor went straight in barely dressed, and pulled him out and the rest of them joined to get him out,” Gillian said.
“He was given CPR by one of the supervisors. Then he was taken to ED at Middlemore Hospital. They had to sort of fix him up.”
Kováč underwent surgery the night of the accident.
“He’s got cuts and lacerations throughout the body, legs and face, ears a little bit cut too. He’s got a blue eye, he’s been knocked on the eye by something, seemingly it’s the propeller underneath the boat,” Gillian said a day after the accident.
“He’s actually asking me what happened because he doesn’t remember other than coming up the ladder and passing a GoPro [camera] to someone, and then he just remembered being yanked a few seconds and that’s it.
“Given the circumstance, all the doctors agree it’s a miracle he pulled through because most of the time you don’t, you know, survive something like this, but he’s doing better.”
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is deputy head of news.
