Body found in sea

Press, 17 March 1982, Page 5

Body found in sea

The body of a man was found by a Japanese fishing boat 80km east of the Kaikoura Peninsula on January 28. the district coroner (Mr N. G. Hattaway) heard yesterday. The body was that of Edward Dennis McNabb, aged 35, the skipper of . the fishing boat Miss Wainui. which sank off Peraki Bay. Banks Peninsula, on January 4.

The master of the Japanese fishing vessel. Mr Masashi Hamada, said in a written statement, his vessel was heading south towards fishing grounds when a body, with two fishing buoys tied to its waist, was spotted in the ocean east of Kaikoura. The body was recovered by the Japanese boat and taken to Lyttelton. Robin Jeffrey Anderson, aged 20. of Aka'roa. a crewman on the Miss Wainui. said 'in a written statement that on January 4 they were heading towards Akaroa on the boat when they were hit by a big wave.

' "We took on a bit of water, and then we were hit by another wave. The stern went down." he said.

Mr Anderson said he put on a life buoy and Mr McNabb tied two windy buoys round his waist with nylon rope. ’ "The deceased couldn't swim properly but could dog paddle. The boat sank about 6 miles (9km) off shore and we stayed together until we were about a mile from the shore.

"It started to blow very strongly and we were parted. I last saw the deceased when I was about a quarter of a mile from shore and he was three-quarters of a mile off shore." he said. Mr Anderson said when he last saw Mr McNabb he was pale, getting tired and complaining that the rope round his waist holding the two buoys was hurling. Mr Anderson reached the shore just on nightfall, fell asleep at the foot of some

cliffs and woke the next morning. He was able to contact the police from a farmhouse. The coroner found that Mr McNabb died at sea off Peraki Bay on January 4 from drowning. POWER BOATS Wesley Grant Varcoe. aged 41. died'in'Christchurch Hospital on February 7 from multiple injuries suffered when his power boat crashed in a regatta on the Estuary, according to the Coroner. Mr Varcoe was driving his tunnel-hulled power boat Nitro in a race on the Estuary when it went out of control and he was thrown out.David James McWhinnie. a mechanic for Varcoe. said the deceased was overtaking another competitor., at about 160 km per hour, when the bow went up in the air and came down more or less on its stern. "I saw pieces fly off the boat but did not see the deceased come out." Mr McWhinnie said. "With this type of hull the bow does tend to lift when there-is a sudden deceleration and the air can lift the boat off the water." Mr McWhinnie said. Constable Peter Wayne, of New Brighton, who was watching the race, said in evidence that the front of the boat rose in the air and the driver was thrown out. A crash boat was at the accident almost immediaalelv. PEDESTRIAN The Coroner found that John Charles Hopkinson. aged 35. died in Christchurch Hospital on January 14 from head injuries received when he was hit by a motor-cycle in Kaikoura four days earlier. HIT-AND-RUN Melville Frank Miller, aged 60. the victim of a hit-and-run accident, died on October 16 from multiple injuries suffered when his bicycle was struck from behind bv a car in Colombo Street.’ north of Salisbury

Street. Mr Hattaway said DROWNED

Eileen Amy Herman, aged 63. died from drowning at Redcliffs. on or about February 20. CRUSHED Graham Lindsay Blaney, aged 23. died of multiple injuries when he was crushed under a bulk tar tanker at Hawkhurst Road. Lyttelton, on February 15. the Coroner found. Mr Blaney was a member of a British Pavements work gang resealing a portion of the highway.

Andrew Malcolm, the foreman of the gang, said Blaney was walking on the right hand side of the truck. He had been guiding the truck up the hill.

"For some reason he walked to the rear of the truck and tried to jump up on the back. He slipped off and as he did he grabbed at some polythene which was covering the tow bar at the rear. The polythene ripped and he slid to the right then went under the wheels of the truck." Mr Malcolm said. Mr Hattaway found that death was self inflicted in the cases of: Neville Kinrade. aged 22: Peter Arthur Bourke. aged 23; Joan Beryll Young, aged 55: Charles Thomas Campbell, aged 70; and Philip Anthony Milroy. aged 34.