NZDF to help rescue sailor in Tasman Sea

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) will help in the rescue of a sailor who sent a distress call yesterday afternoon about 400 kilometres northeast of Auckland, in its second search and rescue operation this weekend.

Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the Air Component Commander, said a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-3K2 Orion aircraft deployed from Auckland this morning to support the rescue of the SV Ilanga’s skipper by commercial vessel MV Southern Lily.

“Our C-130 aircraft found Ilanga yesterday and was able to establish communications with the skipper,” Air Commodore Webb said.

“However, a rescue operation could not be carried out due to poor conditions in the area and with only a few hours of daylight left.”

The RNZAF C-130 Hercules aircraft deployed yesterday morning to search for a New Zealand sailor in the Pacific Ocean was retasked later in the afternoon to search for Ilanga.

The Hercules was on its way home to Auckland when the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) picked up Ilanga’s emergency signal and requested further NZDF support.

The RCCNZ said the 12-metre yacht’s electrical unit had caught fire and it had started to take on water through a window.

Although the yacht no longer has navigation lights, the skipper has a handheld VHF radio, which he had been turning off from time to time to save on power. His vessel is also equipped with a dinghy.

The NZDF flew 234 hours on 19 search and rescue missions in New Zealand and the Pacific in 2016, up 59 per cent from the 147 flying hours recorded the previous year. Since January, it has flown more than 90 hours on eight search and rescue missions. Yesterday’s operation involved a Kiwi yachtsman who was left drifting on a life raft in rough seas after his yacht sank 166 kilometres east of Norfolk Island.