The Rescue Coordination Centre NZ (RCCNZ) received a phone call at 10.10 am this morning from a fishing company advising that a large fishing vessel, 30 miles offshore west of Hokitika (West Coast South Island), had a sick crew member onboard. The onboard doctor advised the man required hospital treatment.
RCCNZ tasked Garden City Helicopters to airlift the sick crewmen from the vessel and take him to Christchurch for treatment.
RCCNZ Search Mission Coordinator Dougal Cockerell said, “The weather conditions are good so the helicopter will have no problem winching the crew member off the vessel and airlifting him to hospital to receive the medical attention he needs.”
RCCNZ is a division of Maritime NZ and is responsible for coordinating land, sea and air, search and rescue. It coordinates:
- all major search and rescue missions within New Zealand’s search and rescue region ( 30 million square kilometres)
- search and rescue operations arising from someone activating a distress beacon.
These incidents are termed ‘Category II’ incidents. RCCNZ also assists with other rescues when required, and provide search and rescue (SAR) services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
