Bay Rescue II, the Bay of Islands Coastguard vessel, was one of two involved in rescues off Northland's east coast overnight Tuesday/Wednesday.
Bay Rescue II, the Bay of Islands Coastguard vessel, was one of two involved in rescues off Northland's east coast overnight Tuesday/Wednesday.
Northland Coastguard volunteers exchanged the comfort of their homes to head out to two on-water medical rescues on a wet and cold night.
At 11.27pm on Tuesday Coastguard's Operations Centre was contacted by St John requesting assistance with a medical evacuation on a 40ft fishing trawler in Bream Bay. NorthlandRescue Helicopter's Helimed 3 had been able to winch a paramedic on-board but were unable to retrieve the paramedic and patient.
The fishing vessel was making slow speed towards Marsden Cove but the paramedic was concerned the patient needed hospitalisation sooner than the expected arrival time for the vessel in port.
Coastguard volunteers from Whangarei were paged and on the water shortly after midnight with Circa Rescue meeting up with the vessel as it entered the harbour at 12.25am. Circa Rescue shadowed the trawler to Urquharts Bay and took the paramedic and patient on board and transferred them to a waiting ambulance at Marsden Cove Marina. Coastguard volunteers returned to their station at Kissing Point at about 2am.
Meanwhile, at 11.49pm police notified Coastguard's Operations Centre of a 28ft yacht near Russell with mechanical issues, and a possible injury to one of the three people on board. Communications with the vessel were challenging via mobile phone with poor reception and low battery. Text messaging was being used to save battery.
The skipper had injured his knee and one of the crew was suffering from seasickness. Bay Rescue II departed Doves Bay shortly after 1am and located the vessel 4 nautical miles northeast of Ninepin Island.
Two of the people on board were transferred to the Bay Rescue II while the injured skipper was made comfortable on his yacht and the vessel barged to Waitangi over the next two hours at low speed to reduce the impact on the injured knee. An ambulance met the crew at Waitangi Wharf as the man's condition had deteriorated slightly.
Having handed him safely over to the ambulance crew the Coastguard volunteers made their way back to Doves Bay and closed about 5.30am yesterday.
