A 12 metre fishing boat with nine people on board capsized in Foveaux Strait on Wednesday night around midnight. This was only an hour after it left Bluff near Invercargill. Nobody realized that the boat had capsized and sunk until 2pm on Thursday when it didn’t arrive at Stewart Island.
One man was found by the coastguard boat at 6pm yesterday, Thursday, after he had been in the 13 degree water for 18 hours. He was on the deck at midnight when the wind changed to southerly. A sudden huge wave, possibly 6m high, turned the boat over. For the next two hours, he climbed onto the hull of the boat which was upside down in the water. Then the boat sank but a petrol can floated near him and he held onto that. He was not wearing a life jacket. His tongue is swollen, his eyes are red and sore and he was suffering from hypothermia but he is in hospital now and recovering.
Four bodies were found today. A navy camera found the boat on the bottom of the ocean but no bodies near it. Four more people are missing including a 7-year old child.
The passengers were from Invercargill. They were going to the Muttonbird Islands near Stewart Island. This is the time of year when they catch muttonbirds (the Maori word is Titi). They are sea birds. They are used for food and their feathers.
The sea in Foveaux Strait can be dangerous. Seventeen people have drowned in Foveaux Strait since 2006. Fourteen of those 17 people were going to the Muttonbird Islands or coming back after catching muttonbirds.
Vocabulary
Strait – water between two islands; Foveaux Strait is between the south of the South Island and Stewart Island.
capsized – turned over, turned upside down
sink, sank sunk – opposite is ‘float’
southerly wind comes from Antarctica
a coastguard rescues people from the sea
hull – bottom of the boat
hypothermia – very low body temperature
recover – get better