Tragedy strikes in harbour

Press, 21 January 1982, Page 1

Tragedy strikes in harbour

PA Auckland A search will resume early' today for the 10-year-old daughter of Bill and Paulette Hol after a boating tragedyon the Manukau Harbour early yesterday claimed the lives of their* two younger daughters.

Searchers worked through the night and up to 4 p.m. yesterday looking for Michelle Hol. One of the first searchers, Mr John Miller, the owner of the camp at Big Bay, found Mr Hol and the barely alive Mary-Anne, aged six, about 12.30 a.m. Mr Bruce Hinton, a local resident, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation for more than two hours, but without success.

The tragedy began just before 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday, when the entire family, comprising Mr and Mrs Hol, Michelle. Mary-Anne, and Sharlene. aged eight, set out from Titirangi to stay with friends at Grahams Beach across the Manukau.

On their way across the choppy harbour* the family’s 5.4-metre fibreglass runabout began taking water. Mr Hol, in touch by radio with friends at Grahams Beach, told them the boat had not hit anything but that it was shipping water faster than they could bail it out and was sinking fast. As the three girls, all

wearing life-jackets, huddled in the cabin, the police were notified and immediately began to mount a rescue. The boat began to sink stern-first into 1.2-metre waves and strengthening winds.

Mr Hol struggled over the boat to punch out the windscreen with his fist and

pull out Mary-Anne. Her lifejacket was ripped from her as he pulled her through the shattered screen.

He jumped into the water with Mary-Anne in his arms and began to swim for the southern shore. Mrs Hol and Sharlene drifted away in the opposite direction, but the couple lost sight of Michelle. An hour later, at Big Bay, Mr Miller found Mr Hol, still holding Mary-Anne, who was barely alive*. She died soon after, in spite of efforts to revive her.

A helicopter, the Auckland Airport hovercraft, and eight boats searched for the others. Mrs Hol was found almost six hours later by the helicopter in the Pur’akau channel, about seven kilometres away, with the body of Sharlene in her arms. She was taken to Middlemore Hospital suffering from shock and exposure, and was in a fairly satisfactory condition last evening.

The search for Michelle was called off at 4 p.m. yesterday after a shore search between Little Muddy Creek and Hillsborough and further sweeps of the harbour by a light aircraft and hovercraft at low tide. The search resumed at first light today with police, Manukau Coastguard and Waiuku search and rescue boats on the harbour.

The police will begin an inquiry into the accident as soon as possible. They had no clues last evening to the cause of the accident but were investigating the possibility that the boat's motor broke down and the family were caught in a sudden storm.