Crabber warned about conditions

Asian crab fishermen try their luck at Uretiti Beach on Boxing Day 2014, the day after the Christmas Day death of Heng Li. Photo / File

A Chinese crab fisher who ventured out in choppy waters and drowned ignored warnings about the dangerous sea conditions from lifeguards and a friend, a Coronial inquest has heard.

An inquest into the death of Heng Li, 23, who died in waters off Uretiti Beach on Christmas Day 2014 while trying to pull a crab pot, was held by Coroner Brandt Shortland in Whangarei yesterday.

Mr Shortland said more people would drown at Uretiti unless messages during education and awareness campaigns by stakeholders including police, lifeguards, Water Safe New Zealand and territorial authorities were heeded. Two weeks ago, a 35-year-old Chinese man from Auckland drowned at Uretiti when he fell off an inflatable boat while setting crab pots. It was the third death on the beach involving an Asian crabber since Christmas Day 2011.

David Butt, lifesaving and club development manager for Surf Life Saving Northern region, told the inquest lifeguards identified early on on December 25, 2014, that it would be a big crab fishing day in rough waters. About 600 people were at the beach that day, he said.

He said Mr Li was among crabbers who were spoken to by the lifeguards about the dangerous conditions but he did not know whether he took heed of the advice. Mr Butt said Surf Life Saving NZ would push for crab fishers to wear lifejackets which increased their resilience in the water and would give rescuers a chance to get to those in trouble.

Auckland student Joe Cheolyeon, who had been invited to go crabbing with Mr Li, told the inquest they had both got into trouble while trying to pull the crab pot in which was about 50m from the shoreline. "I had tried to pull the pot into the shoreline for about five minutes. I was about to give up pulling on the rope when Ares (Mr Li) came out to meet me," he recalled.

Mr Cheolyeon said since he was the taller of the two men, he knew he would be stronger in the water. "I said to him 'It's not worth it. Let's go back'. We together tried to pull the pot in for about 20 seconds. I could see that he was struggling. I felt scared and said to Ares 'Let's go back'.

"He did not say anything. I said 'Let's go. Let's go'. He then said to me 'Help me'. At this point I realised that he was not able to get himself to the shore."

Mr Cheolyeon said he decided to rescue himself and it took him about 10 minutes of swimming and struggling to get back to shore.

Wilbert Espinoza, a crewman on board a yacht, told the inquest he was at Uretiti Beach about 5.45pm on Christmas Day 2014 but decided against swimming as the water was too rough. He noticed two men trying to get out of the water. The taller male, he said, had a reasonable swimming stroke while the shorter man was flailing about more like doggy paddling. Mr Cheolyeon and Mr Espinoza's evidence were read out by the police inquest officer, Senior Constable Andrea Magill.

Chase Cahalane, of the Surf Lifesaving Northern region, told the inquest he was called to Uretiti Beach by the patrol captain to help volunteer lifeguards about 11am on December 25, 2014.

Senior Constable Martin Geddes, who is heading the police campaign to reduce the number of fatalities on Uretiti and Ruakaka beaches, said signs in Korean and Chinese warning of the danger should be put up in the next fortnight at 11 locations around the Uretiti Tip, Uretiti Reserve and at Mair Rd. He said there had been a lot of focus on reducing road fatalities which have gone down, but the number of drownings have increased. Five years ago, he said only about 50 Chinese crab fishers would be on Uretiti Beach during the festive season but the numbers have since exploded.

Mr Shortland has reserved his decision.