Yacht rescue cost '$1m', couple airlifted 

The dismasted Janette Gay adrift. Picture / RNZAF

The cost of rescuing two injured yachties stranded north of the Chatham Islands may be more than $1 million.

The couple were being flown home to Christchurch this afternoon.

Heloise Kortekaas and Bruce Cox were rescued from their stricken yacht by the crew of the P&O Nedlloyd Encounter just before 7pm yesterday, 750km north of the Chatham Islands.

They were lifted off the Encounter by the Westpac Rescue helicopter this afternoon and taken to the Chatham Islands.

They were then transferred to a fixed wing aircraft and were on their way back to Christchurch, where they will be taken to hospital. The estimated time of arrival in Christchurch was between 3.30pm and 4pm.

Life Flight Trust Wellington operations manager Dave Greenberg said Mr Cox was suffering injuries to his leg, back and rib and had been winched off the ship on a stretcher.
Ms Kortekaas had an arm injury.

The couple had been sailing to the Cook Islands when they were injured in heavy seas. Precise figures of the cost for rescuing the two hurt sailors from their stricken 9.7 metre steel yacht Janette Gay in the past few days are almost impossible to determine.

However, some authorities believe the $1m estimate by one official, who did not want to be named, may be too low.

The known costs of the rescue include the recovery flight by the rescue helicopter and fixed wing aircraft and the two search and rescue packs dropped by an Air Force Orion to the yacht. The packs included a 10-man inflatable liferaft and two survival containers linked together by several hundred metres of rope.

Each of the packs cost $250,000.

One was lost when it drifted past Janette Gay a tantalising 20 metres away.

The other was taken aboard but the liferaft was washed away and only the two survival packs were recovered.

That $500,000 cost of the two survival packs did not include the cost of deploying an Orion aircraft for several days or the cost of gearing up the Rescue Co-ordination Centre after the first mayday call from the yacht on Sunday.

The Orion flights clocked up more than 30 hours and although the air force would not give the hourly cost of keeping an Orion in the air, one observer said it was "scary".

The diversion of three ships to the area will also have added to the cost. 

Mr Greenberg said the $30,000 cost of sending helicopter and fixed wing aircraft to the Chathams would be met by either the Accident Compensation Corporation or the Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

Rescue centre spokesman Lindsay Sturt said the cost of keeping the Orion in the air was included in the annual costs of the air force and separating out one incident was not easy.

He said the cost of diverting the ships was borne by the shipping companies and they did not seek to recover the costs from New Zealand.

- NZPA, NEWSTALK ZB