A volunteer crew on board Marine Rescue vessel Crowdy Harrington 30 has retrieved a boat believed to be the one missing since two men were thrown overboard and injured after the vessel ran over them and then took off unmanned in the surf zone at Queens Head, north of Port Macquarie on Tuesday August 1, 2023.
Marine Rescue NSW Inspector Rodney Page said Crowdy Harrington 30 retrieved the vessel after it was located by a fisherman four nautical miles east of Manning Point on the Mid North Coast around 8.15 this morning.
“Marine Rescue NSW volunteers from Port Macquarie, Forster/Tuncurry and Crowdy Harrington have been keeping an eye out for the missing vessel after numerous sightings by boaters off the coast.
“Forster Tuncurry 30 has done extensive searching for the boat and this morning a fisherman came across the overturned runabout offshore and called Marine Rescue NSW,” he said.
“The fisherman tied a line to the distressed vessel and stayed with it until the crew on board Crowdy Harrington 30 arrived,” Inspector Page said.
“CB 30 then towed the vessel back to Crowdy Bay Harbour.
“The vessel had sustained extensive damage.
“Retrieving this vessel is a great outcome, it not only removes a navigational hazard but the owner will have it returned.
“Vessels usually left to drift are never seen again,” Inspector Page said.
NSW Police are expected to return the vessel to its owner.
Offshore search and rescue capability along the NSW coast has been enhanced with the addition of a cutting-edge, custom-designed vessel to the Marine Rescue NSW fleet. Named Marine Rescue 30 (MR 30),...
A dozen Marine Rescue NSW flood rescue and support operators, along with five vessels, were rapidly deployed today to assist communities impacted by the current weather event affecting the Hunter and...
