vessel ‘Mysterious Wonder’ sighted from the Royal New
Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon. Supplied /
NZDF
The New Zealand Defence Force
has combined its maritime and air assets to conduct a search
and rescue operation for two men drifting in a wooden boat
105 nautical miles south of Tonga.
The two men were
located by a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-8A
Poseidon yesterday morning and were then recovered on board
the Royal New Zealand Navy’s HMNZS Canterbury last
night.
The P-8A had been en route to conduct maritime
surveillance operations for illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing in the South West Pacific when it was
diverted to conduct the search for the missing
boat.
Maritime New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination
Centre requested the aircraft crew search for the boat after
it was reported overdue.
The crew on board the
11.5-metre wooden boat named Mysterious Wonder were reported
to have left Tongatapu, Tonga on 8 February. Authorities
were notified on Tuesday that the vessel was
missing.
The P-8A crew flew to Fiji to base overnight
before starting the search Wednesday morning. They found the
boat at 10.15am. The call then went out to HMNZS Canterbury
to rescue the men and bring them to safety.
Commander
Wayne Andrew, the Commanding Officer of HMNZS Canterbury,
said the ship launched a sea boat, rescuing the two men late
yesterday evening.
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“This was an excellent combined
effort to locate and rescue the crew members,” he
said.
“The P-8A crew did a fantastic job locating
the vessel in a large search area about 105 nautical miles
south of Tonga. We were fortunate to be in a position to be
able to assist the two men.”
HMNZS Canterbury
recently completed a successful trip to Tokelau supporting
Governor-General of New Zealand Dame Cindy Kiro to mark the
centenary of New Zealand administration of Tokelau. The ship
was en route to the Kermadec Islands before it turned around
to assist with the rescue.
The two men were flown to
Tonga this morning on a RNZAF NH90 helicopter embarked on
HMNZS Canterbury.
The ship will today resume passage
to Raoul Island, to assist MetService and Earth Sciences New
Zealand personnel to carry out upgrade and maintenance tasks
of critical weather, tsunami and volcano monitoring
equipment and
facilities.
