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| Photo Credit: AP. |
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Five people died Saturday in New Zealand after the small charter boat they were aboard capsized, authorities say, in what may have been a collision with a whale. Another six people aboard the boat were rescued.
Police said
the 8.5-meter (28-foot) boat overturned near the South Island town of Kaikōura.
Police said they were continuing to investigate the cause of the accident.
Kaikōura
Police Sergeant Matt Boyce described it as a devastating and unprecedented
event.
“Our
thoughts are with everyone involved, including the victims and their families,
their local communities, and emergency services personnel,” Boyce said.
He said
police divers had recovered the bodies of all those who had died. He said all
six survivors were assessed to be in stable condition at a local health center,
with one transferred to a hospital in the city of Christchurch as a precaution.
Kaikōura
Mayor Craig Mackle told The Associated Press that the water was dead calm at
the time of the accident and the assumption was that a whale had surfaced from
beneath the boat.
He said
there were some sperm whales in the area and also some humpback whales
traveling through.
He said
locals had helped with the rescue efforts throughout the day but the mood in
the town was “somber” because the water was so cold and they feared for the
outcome of anybody who had fallen overboard.
Mackle said
he’d thought in the past about the possibility of a boat and whale colliding,
given the number of whales that frequent the region.
“It always
plays on your mind that it could happen,” he said, adding that he hadn’t heard
about any previous such accidents.
Mackle said
the boat was a charter vessel typically used for fishing excursions. News
agency Stuff reported the passengers belonged to a bird enthusiasts’ group.
Police said
they were still notifying the relatives of those who died, and couldn’t yet
publicly name the victims.
Vanessa
Chapman told Stuff she and a group of friends had watched the rescue efforts
unfold from Goose Bay, near Kaikōura. She said that when she arrived at a
lookout spot, she could see a person sitting atop an overturned boat waving
their arms.
She said two
rescue helicopters and a third local helicopter were circling before two divers
jumped out. She told Stuff that the person atop the boat was rescued and a
second person appeared to have been pulled from the water.
Kaikōura is
a popular whale-watching destination. The seafloor drops away precipitously
from the coast, making for deep waters close to the shore. A number of
businesses offer boat trips or helicopter rides so tourists can see whales,
dolphins and other sea creatures up close.
Compliance
agency Maritime New Zealand said it sent two investigators to the scene and
would be conducting a thorough investigation once recovery operations had
concluded.
Principal
Investigator Tracy Phillips said the agency “offers its heartfelt condolences
to the family and loved ones of the people who have died.”