Fishing vessel caught up in drama | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

A fishing boat with two Tauranga crew members on board sank quickly after getting into trouble off the Coromandel coast yesterday.

The skipper and crew of the 18m long vessel Rebecca May, which supplied fish to the Western Bay market, were rescued from a liferaft after the vessel sank 92km northeast of Tauranga about midday.

A beacon alert from the $500,000 fishing vessel was picked up by the Rescue Coordination Centre.

Vessels in the area were alerted and a helicopter from Whitianga identified a "large amount of smoke, along with a liferaft and buoys" but could not see the crew from the boat.

The smoke was from an emergency flare that had been set off, not from the boat, said a Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman.

Nearby vessel Lady Columbo responded to the call and picked up all three crew members from the liferaft about 1.30pm. The Lady Columbo also recovered the liferaft and emergency beacon.

Maritime New Zealand said no injuries were reported and the cause of incident was unknown.

Rebecca May's joint owner Dugal MacFarlane told the Bay of Plenty Times that his 34-year-old son Wayne, who was the vessel's skipper, and two Tauranga crew were on board.

Mr MacFarlane said he had only been able to talk to his son briefly last night and some details were still sketchy.

Both are partners in the Whitianga-based Tuna Fishing Company, which owns three boats including the Rebecca May and supplies fish for the Tauranga market.

Mr MacFarlane said his son told him he and his crew were only about 30-40 miles out from Whitianga after heading out on Monday night when they ran into difficulties.

"Despite efforts to pump the water out of the boat, the pumps just couldn't keep up and I understand the boat sunk very quickly ... I don't really know what happened maybe they hit something."

Mr MacFarlane said his son was "really cut up".

"So I am. It was a really great boat which we have owned since 2002."

Mr MacFarlane said the Rebecca May was insured and he estimated the loss to be about $500,000.

He said the exact cause of sinking was still being investigated.

The Westpac rescue helicopter, based in Whitianga over the summer, flew to the scene yesterday in case the ship's crew needed to be winched to safety. Helicopter crewman Dean Harvey said the crew had been rescued ahead of their arrival but the helicopter crew continued to the scene to make sure everything was safe.

There was "no sign" of the vessel itself by the time they arrived.

"There was a lot of surface debris - buoys and floating debris from the boat that sunk," Mr Harvey said.

The Lady Columbo is understood to be an 85-foot pleasure boat attached to an American-registered luxury superyacht that arrived in Whitianga from the Bay of Islands on Monday night. It left Whitianga at 7.15am yesterday before becoming involved in the rescue.