Four people have been rescued from the sea after their catamaran capsized off the Tiwi Islands on Friday afternoon.
Northern Territory Water Police responded to a beacon activation of a vessel in distress around 1:50pm.
CareFlight responded via helicopter from Darwin and located 4 persons in the water clinging to the capsized 6.5 metre catamaran at Bowen Bay, on the south western side of Bathurst Island.
The CareFlight crew deployed a life raft that the 4 were able to climb into to safety.
Australian Border Force also responded to the incident, deployed a response vessel, and collected the 4 people from the life raft.
Border Force crew reported that all 4 persons were safe and had not suffered any injuries.
The 4 were then transported back to Darwin via Border Force and Darwin based Water Police before being reunited with family.
Police from Wurrumiyanga also attended the scene, notifying the Port Authority of the exact location of the capsized vessel.
Acting Senior Sergeant Anthony Clarke said “This is a timely reminder for all boat owners to check their safety equipment and reregister their EPIRB’s online.
“Having a registered EPIRB and all persons having easy access to their life jackets has been crucial to keeping these 4 safe.
“Authorities were able to respond quickly and deploy assets to ensure they were safety rescued in a timely manner.
“Police would also like to thank CareFlight, Australian Border Force and members of the public who assisted with this incident.”
