Three rescued as launch sinks off the Poor Knights

A close call near the Poor Knights Islands this afternoon ended with everyone safe.

A 28-foot launch started taking on water near the Sugar Loaf Rocks, and things went downhill fast. The three people on board got their lifejackets on and went into the water as the boat kept flooding, by that point it was close to going under completely. A nearby vessel got to them quickly and pulled all three out of the water safely.

The charter boat, Fish Tutukaka, was reportedly nearby, heard the call go out over the radio and arrived first, plucking the three crew from the water.

Coastguard Tutukaka had their rescue vessel out just before 1.30pm and were on scene not long after. They brought the three aboard, checked them over, and thankfully nobody needed medical attention. The unit, formed back in 1998, runs a 9 metre AC36 Protector out of a floating dock in Tutukaka Marina, so they weren't far from the scene.

By the time the Coastguard reached the launch, it was mostly underwater as indicated in the pictures. Coastguard worked alongside other responders, including RCCNZ, to bring the incident to a safe close. Coastguard Tutukaka made it back to harbour with the three survivors around 3pm.

Coastguard Tutukaka covers around 500 square nautical miles from the Rimariki Islands to Bream Head, out past the Poor Knights and beyond. It's a busy stretch of water too, the main route boats take between Auckland and the Bay of Islands, and Tutukaka itself is well known as a game fishing hotspot.

If there's one takeaway from today, it's this: having a lifejacket on before you need it can make all the difference. When a boat starts taking on water, there's often not much time to think, just to act.