The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) saved a lone fisherman after his boat caught on fire. RCCNZ received an alert from an EPIRB distress beacon on February 15, from the vessel located 12 miles west off Cape Foulwind, Westport.
The team sent the Greymouth search and rescue helicopter and airlifted the man from the life raft and took him to hospital for a medical check.
RCCNZ Watch Leader / Senior Search and Rescue Officer Geoff Lunt commented that the operation was successful and the team acted rapidly.
The satellite technology allowed for alerts to be received by the team within minutes.
Officer Lunt stated that if the fisherman didn’t have his distress beacon he might not be saved.
The float-free EPIRB distress beacons that activate automatically became mandatory on commercial fishing vessels from 1 January 2019.
Additionally, this requirement applies to those vessels between 7.5 metres and 24 metres operating outside enclosed waters.
RCCNZ is responsible for a search and rescue region which covers 30 million square km stretching from Antarctica almost to the equator.
