Trimaran pilot saw flashing light before hitting boat

Earthrace pictured in Napier. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

The American engineer who was steering the New Zealand speedboat Earthrace when it hit a Guatemalan fishing skiff saw a flashing light before the collision.

Earthrace ran down the vessel, killing one of three shark fishermen on board.

Anthony Distefano "spotted a small white and red flashing light directly ahead", Earthrace spokeswoman Devann Yata said today.

She said that according to maritime law: "flashing lights are to be used as navigational aids, marking things such as channels.

"Boats are marked with solid white, red and green lights only," she said in a statement.

"Distefano, assumed the flashing light was on some form of beacon, and was checking a GPS system to locate which beacon he was looking at.

"The small size of the bulb gave him the impression the light was still considerable distance away. A few seconds later, Earthrace collided with a small fiberglass fishing vessel."

After the collision the shocked Earthrace crew of three, and one American passenger, saw three fishermen in the water off the stern of the boat, the spokeswoman said.

Carlos Contreras Cruz, 22, the youngest of the fishermen, clambered onto the stern of the boat and collapsed.

Pedro Salazan Gonzalez, 51, remained struggling between the hull of the fishing vessel and the stern of Earthrace.

Earthrace captain Pete Bethune jumped in and helped push the man up to the stern while Mr Distefano pulled him from above.

A third man in the water was thrown a life buoy.

Mr Bethune then dived in to search for the third man.

The missing man has been identified as Julio David Galiano Contreras, 54, and a local newspaper, Prensa Libre today said his wife Giorgina Grijalva, was begging for his body to be recovered.

After 15 minutes of searching from the water, the Earthrace crew decided to start the port engine and circle the area to look for the missing fisherman -- satellite tracking made available by a sponsor shows the boat zig-zagging back and forth around the site of the impact.

The crew made mayday calls on several frequencies in both English and Spanish, and after searching for 90 minutes, went to three other boats fishing to ask for assistance in the search.