The Air Force and Navy rescued two men drifting in a missing wooden boat nearly 200km off the coast of Tonga yesterday.
The two crew aboard the 11.5m boat called Mysterious Wonder had left Tongatapu, Tonga on February 8. They were reported missing on Tuesday.
A RNZAF P-3 Orion had been enroute to conduct a maritime surveillance patrol for illegal fishing when a call came from Maritime New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre to search for the boat.
The crew flew to Fiji to base overnight and embarked on their search yesterday morning.
The vessel was found drifting 105 nautical miles off the coast of Tonga at 10.15am.
A call was sent to HMNZS Canterbury to rescue the men and bring them home.
A photo showed the two men on the roof of the boat's cabin, waving a flag.
The Canterbury had been returning from a trip to Tokelau, where Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro was marking 100 years of New Zealand's administration of the island.
The vessel was en route to the Kermadec Islands before turning around to help with the rescue.
A seaboat was deployed, and the men were taken aboard the warship. They were flown back to Tonga in an NH90 helicopter.
The Canterbury would continue its journey to Raoul Island to assist MetService and Earth Sciences New Zealand personnel in carrying out upgrade and maintenance tasks on critical weather, tsunami, and volcano-monitoring equipment and facilities.
Commanding Officer Commander Wayne Andrew praised the efforts of Defence Force members involved in the rescue.
“This was an excellent combined effort to locate and rescue the crew members,” he said.
“The P-8A crew did a fantastic job locating the vessel in a large search area about 105 nautical miles south of Tonga. We were fortunate to be in a position to be able to assist the two men.”
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