{"id":406318,"date":"2026-05-01T07:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406318\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T07:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:10:13","slug":"three-found-safe-after-boat-capsizes-in-bay-of-islands-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406318\/","title":{"rendered":"Three found safe after boat capsizes in Bay of Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three men have “narrowly escaped tragedy”, police say, after their boat was struck by a large wave and capsized in the Bay of Islands this morning.<\/p>\n

Police said it received a report at 6.45am Friday from a man who swam to shore after the dinghy he was on had sunk off Wairoa Bay, near Waitangi at around 3am. <\/p>\n

Detective Sergeant Paul Overton said the man’s two crewmates were still unaccounted for and were “last seen clinging to a chilly bin in the water”. <\/p>\n

“The males had been fishing at the time and were not wearing life jackets,” Overton said. <\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

Five volunteers from Coastguard Bay of Islands responded to the scene after a vessel had sunk off Wairoa Bay this morning. (Source: Coastguard Bay of Islands)<\/p>\n

Coastguard said that five volunteers from Coastguard Bay of Islands immediately launched rescue vessel Bay Rescue 2 to help with the search, alongside a Westpac Rescue Helicopter.<\/p>\n

“At around 8.30am, the second person was found safely washed ashore,” a Coastguard spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

Less than an hour later, the third missing person was located on the rocks near Bayleys Farm in a moderate condition. <\/p>\n

\"Five<\/p>\n

Five volunteers from Coastguard Bay of Islands responded to the scene after a vessel had sunk off Wairoa Bay this morning. (Source: Coastguard Bay of Islands)<\/p>\n

“The person was flown to Waitangi Bike Park where they were transported to hospital by road ambulance.” An Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

Overton said the incident was caused by a large 12ft striking the vessel, causing it to “rapidly fill with water and sink”. <\/p>\n

“I cannot stress just how incredibly lucky these three men are,” he said, describing the situation as a “terrifying ordeal.<\/p>\n

\"Auckland<\/p>\n

Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopters were tasked by Police SAR to Bay of Islands to assist alongside Coastguard. (Source: Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust)<\/p>\n

“This situation could have had a dire outcome and we\u2019re thankful we\u2019ve been able to return these men back to their loved ones.”<\/p>\n

He said fortunately, a recent training exercise had simulated the exact situation, which “paid dividends” during the rescue. <\/p>\n

“We cannot say it enough, if you are going out on the water, check the marine weather, make sure to always wear a lifejacket, take two waterproof ways to call for help, and tell someone where you\u2019re going.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three men have “narrowly escaped tragedy”, police say, after their boat was struck by a large wave and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1081,42,43,1067,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-406318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accident","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-northland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}