A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon spotted the trio, who had spent hours clinging to a lifejacket on Wednesday.
Incredible footage shows a desperate rescue effort to save three men clinging to a lifejacket, a bucket and a petrol can for six hours after their boat overturned.
NZ Defense Force (NZDF) released footage taken by the crew of the RNZAF P-8A Poseidon, who assisted searchers and spotted the trioin the water.
The combined forces of rescue agencies involved in the search were praised.
Maritime NZ Rescue Coordination Centre staff described Wednesday’s rescue of the men as a “fantastic” example of rescue agencies working together.
The men in the Tokomaru Bay-based commercial crayfishing boat were in the water for about six hours after the boat went over.
The alarm was raised about 11am when the overturned boat was seen by another commercial fisherman.
Police called in Coastguard and Gisborne’s Surf Life Saving NZ emergency SAR callout squad, the Eastland Rescue Helicopter, commercial operators and Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) called in the Royal New Zealand Air Force for help.
The P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft was diverted from a training exercise in the Hauraki Gulf to join the search.
They searched a wide area in choppy seas with swells up to a metre high.
At 2.39pm, the aircraft spotted three people in the water and the RCCNZ directed rescuers to their location, which was at Tatara Reef, 3 nautical miles offshore between Kaiaua and Tolaga Bay.
Flight Lieutenant Pilkinton said the P-8A was flying slowly over the water when the air warfare specialist, observing from a window, saw “a yellow object pass by”.
“The bright-coloured object the survivors used to enhance their visibility made our job easier and significantly increased the probability of detection,” he said.
NZDF said the men were clinging onto a lifejacket, a bucket and petrol can.
The Coastguard boat picked them up and took them to Tolaga Bay, where they were transferred to IRBs and taken ashore.
The men were transferred to surf lifesaving IRBs and taken ashore beside the Tolaga Bay Top 10 Holiday Park area, from where they were taken to Gisborne Hospital by rescue chopper. Photo / NZDF
“They told us their boat had become tangled in a craypot line and tipped over,” Gisborne Lion Foundation Coastguard skipper Aaron Boyle said.
“It happened about a mile off from Three Points at Tokamapuhia Reef, south of Anaura Bay.
“They had drifted around 2.7 nautical miles from where they capsized when we picked them up.”
Once ashore, the men were flown to Gisborne Hospital by the rescue helicopter around 4pm.
