Two men are stranded in the Tasman Sea after a sailboat is damaged by heavy weather
After heavy weather damaged the boat’s steering and led the vessel to take on a substantial quantity of water in the Tasman Sea, two men in their 70s were stranded on board for about 36 hours.
A member of the crew’s family notified the Australian Maritime Safety Authority at 3 a.m. on Monday that the boat was in danger owing to the weather.
At 5 a.m. on Monday, the men, who were making the journey from New Zealand to Australia, activated their distress signal.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a yellow warning on Sunday for the area around Lord Howe Island due to strong southerly winds caused by a deep low-pressure system over the Tasman Sea, located around 250 kilometres north-west of the island.
The maritime safety authority said in a statement posted on Tuesday that the rescue operation was still proceeding as of lunchtime.
“The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has been coordinating the rescue of two New Zealand crew members from a 14.2-metre sailing vessel currently 164 nautical miles (305 kilometres) East of Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea,”
Multiple Royal Australian Air Force aircraft and an AMSA challenger rescue plane located in Melbourne have been circling the area nonstop since yesterday.
The seamen should be rescued by the end of Tuesday thanks to the efforts of the merchant ships that have joined the search and the NSW Police Force rescue boat Nemesis.
Marine Rescue New South Wales has also activated its Lord Howe Island outpost to be on high alert.
