New Zealand Forces Coordinate with Tanker for Challenging Nighttime Rescue

Maritime New Zealand is recounting the details of a high-seas nighttime rescue. The operation was successful due to the coordination of the Rescue Coordination Center along with the New Zealand Defence Force and a Good Samaritan commercial tanker.

The incident began on the afternoon of July 17, when at around 2:30 p.m. local time the center received a Mayday call from a small private vessel it described as a launch. Three people were aboard sailing from New Zealand to Tonga. They were approximately 350 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand, south of the Kermadec Islands, in a remote location far from assistance. 

The people reported their vessel had experienced problems in this remote location, and they were planning on abandoning ship. They took life jackets and other essential equipment and entered a life raft. They activated an emergency beacon (EPIRB), and the center was able to determine a location.

 Search and Rescue Officer at RCCNZ, Taylor Monaghan, says this was a high-stakes search and rescue operation.

“After getting their emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) coordinates following its activation, it was clear they were a long way from help,” said Monaghan.

The Maritime Operations Center issued a call for assistance for any vessel within a 200 nautical mile radius, and the only response was from a tanker. The vessel accepted the request to help and began re-routing to the location of the distress signal.

The Maritime Center also requested the assistance of New Zealand Defense, which dispatched its P-8 reconnaissance airplane. Six hours after the initial request for assistance, the P8 arrived on screen and was able to locate the raft. It monitored the raft and coordinated with the tanker to direct it to the location of the raft.

“This was done at night, in trying conditions as well,” explains Monaghan.

The crew of the tanker had also developed a rescue plan for how to get the individuals aboard. 

“Getting onboard a large vessel on the open ocean from a life raft is not an easy task,” says Monaghan. “The tanker needed to use multiple ladders to have enough length to reach the life raft, as well carefully maneuvering alongside the much smaller life raft.”

At about 11:00 pm New Zealand time, RCCNZ was notified that the crew had successfully been picked up by the merchant ship.

“I am immensely proud of the work of the search and rescue officers involved, as well as the crews of the NZDF P8 and the merchant oil tanker,” said RCCNZ General Manager, Justin Allan. “This was a complex rescue, and very good result to get the three safely off the life raft and onto the merchant vessel.”