Submerged hull points to pleasure-craft tragedy

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

A submerged hull has been spotted from the air off Pukehina in the Bay of Plenty, where items from a pleasure craft were found washed up on the beach late on Wednesday.

Although the identity of the boat and its crew remains a mystery, Tauranga police search and rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Dave Thompson said late yesterday that he believed a tragedy had occurred.

"I have no doubt that this is a vessel that has come to harm and that people have been drowned," Mr Thompson said.

No boats had been reported overdue but officials were investigating sketchy information that it could be a yacht which left Whakatane on Sunday with two people on board, he said.

Nothing further was known about the sailors or the 10m to 12m vessel which was towing a 2.5m aluminium dinghy with a motor on board.

Coastguard boats had been unable to pinpoint the site of the sunken hull spotted by an air patrol about midday yesterday.

With dusk falling and sea conditions cutting up rough, the search was being reassessed.

"Any likelihood of finding anyone alive is virtually nil," said Mr Thompson.

"Typical signs of a capsized vessel," including clothing, almost-full fuel containers, binoculars and food, were discovered along the 5km stretch of Pukehina Beach 20km east of Te Puke, on Wednesday afternoon, he said.

Thorough Coastguard and aerial searches until 10.30pm failed to find anything further.

On Wednesday morning an upturned dinghy had been seen on a deserted beach at Otamarakau, around the headlands from Pukehina.

There was a fuel line and it appeared a motor might have been ripped out by wave action, said Mr Thompson.

"We are surmising it might have come from the ketch [seen at Whakatane] but we've been unable to confirm it," he said.

When the submerged hull of a bigger boat was spotted yesterday about 3km offshore "the pieces started fitting together".

Mr Thompson said the sea might "do its thing" and wash more wreckage ashore today.

He said the weather was rough earlier in the week and there was a mapped section of "foul ground" off the coast in the search area. If a boat struck rocks there it would have sunk.