High seas drama on gulf ferry
All 300 passengers were rescued An evacuation of 300 passengers during a ferry fire emergency could have been a "major disaster", a rescued traveller says.Passengers on the Auckland-to-Waiheke ferry were rescued in the Hauraki Gulf last night from the single-hulled Jet Raider, known to commuters as the "Vomit Comet".Ferry company Fullers had put the passengers on the "spare boat" to free up its more comfortable craft for a charter.But the boat stopped between Motutapu and Motuihe islands after fire alarms sounded. Crew doused the engine room in foam and set the anchor.The StarFlyte ferry was nearby and was called upon to evacuate the passengers. It did so with no gangways between boats, forcing passengers to hop the gap from one to the other.Waiheke Island resident Hans Versluys, a 52-year-old television programmer, said: "If this had happened with a stronger nor'easter, it had the potential of being a major disaster - the Motuihe reef was quite close by."Jet Raider was notorious with regular ferry passengers who called it the "Tomb Raider" and the "Vomit Comet", he said."They haven't bought a new ferry for ages now."Waiheke resident Kevin White said StarFlyte pulled up next to Jet Raider shortly after he heard an ...
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