Runabout flips in heavy seas

A runabout with two men aboard overturned in rough seas at the Waimakariri River bar, north of the Christchurch today.

Inspector Lindsay Turner, of the police southern communications centre, said the Waimakariri-Ashley Lifeboat Institute was alerted and a helicopter sent out after the alert about 10.45am.

The men, in their 40s, were wearing lifejackets and managed to get ashore safely before the lifeboat and helicopter arrived.

"There's fairly high seas going through there at the moment with the southerly wind," Mr Turner said.

A lifeboat institute spokesman said the men were caught out in high seas on the bar. Their boat later washed ashore.

- NZPA