Mystery mayday call prompted $11,000 response involving passenger ferry in Cook Strait

The person who made the distressed mayday call was unable to be found in the Cook Strait. Photo / NZPA

At least $11,000 was spent searching for a boat missing in the Cook Strait that was never found, nor was the person who made the frantic mayday call.

Emergency services spent hours combing the water and found no trace of a distressed vessel last month.

The search included crews from police, Coastguard and an Interislander passenger ferry.

The person was calling via VHF channel 14 on August 25 and indicated they were in distress, three nautical miles (5.5km) south of Karori Rock.

An interislander ferry joined the search for the missing boat

In total, crews spent 120 hours searching for the vessel, at a cost of $11,105.

A police spokesperson said they had completed the investigation into the mayday call, which did not provide any details on where the call came from or who made it.

“With no persons reported missing or coming forward, we are unable to clarify the origins of the radio message.”

Figures released to the Herald under the Official Information Act showed police deployed four officers from the Wellington SAR squad for 14 hours, four officers from the police maritime unit for 24 hours and two members of the police public safety team for two hours.

Six vessels were used during the rescue, including an Interislander ferry, three maritime rescue boats and other commercial boats. Each boat was used for about four hours, and incurred an approximate cost of $1500 each.

Police boat WPMU Lady Liz IV was used for about five hours and incurred a cost of $2750.

Coastguard also sent 10 crew members for 44 hours, which did not incur any cost, according to the report.

Under the Marine Transport Act, vessels from Centrepoint, Seaworks and other various companies are obligated to assist in the rescue but are not obligated to share the breakdown of how much that costs.

The Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) also does not have to provide a breakdown under the Official Information Act, so the true cost of the response is unknown.

Wellington District search and rescue co-ordinator Jonathan Westrupp said during the call, the person said their boat was taking on water with two people on board.

“They failed to respond after several further transmissions, and a search was immediately activated and multiple vessels were deployed to the area.

“We’ve found no objects of interest in the strait or during searches of the shoreline or boat ramps, and no boaties have been reported missing or overdue.”