Helicopter lifts woman off embattled boat

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 2

Helicopter lifts woman off embattled boat

Greymouth reporter

A Haast couple, Mr and Mrs lan Rasmussen, battled 40km northerly winds and high seas in their eight-metre fishing vessel, the Helen N, off the West Coast yesterday morning.

They were concerned that they did not have enough fuel left to reach their destination at Jackson Bay after having travelled from Wanganui. Before the boat could be navigated into -harbour at Okarito, Mrs Rasmussen had been lifted off the vessel by a helicopter which then, with the help of a second helicopter, guided the Helen N past Okarito Head and over the entrance to the Okarito Lagoon, where the boat berthed. Senior-Sergeant C. J. Thompson, of the Greymouth police, said that using the entrance over the bar to the, lagoon had been a par-

ticularly difficult manoeuvre in the conditions.

When the Helen N had radioed that it was running out of fuel there had been no boats nearby to give it a tow and the first helicopter had gone out to lift both the occupants off the boat if necessary. As the conditions had deteriorated, a helicopter with a scoop net had picked up the woman from the deck of the vessel. . The Helen N, however, was still under power when it had berthed. The boat had had enough fuel to reach OkaritO but not enough to reach Jackson Bay. Mr and Mrs Rasmussen were reported to be safe and well.

Mr Rasmussen could not be reached yesterday afternoon: all the telephones in the Haast area had been put out of action by the strong winds.