Life jackets not on police crew

Press, 3 July 1986, Page 1

Life jackets not on police crew

PA Wellington Policemen on a training exercise in Wellington Harbour were not wearing lifejackets when their launch Lady Elizabeth II capsized and sank in fierce seas yesterday, said a police commander last evening. Deputy Commissioner Peter Mairs told reporters that an observer on board was dead when plucked from the water by a helicopter. He was Phillip William Ward, aged 39, a senior-ser-geant of police, of Wellington. He had been in the launch as an observer for a training exercise. Constable Glen Hughes, aged 28, married, was still missing when bad weather brought the search to a halt late in the afternoon. The survivors, Senior Constable Jim McLean, aged 51, the launchmaster, and Constable Rod Herd, aged 40, a crewman, were recovering in Wellington Hospital last night.

All but Senior-Sergeant Ward were regular . crew members of the Lady Elizabeth. Questioned at a press conference, Mr Mairs was asked if the policemen were wearing lifejackets when the launch capsized, about 11.40 a.m. He said the police had been trying to establish this, but he “would have expected that they would have been wearing lifejackets.” Later in the press conference, after an official handed Mr Mairs a message, he told reporters lifejackets were apparently not being worn by those picked up. The Lady Elizabeth left the police wharf under the command of Constable McLean, who is among the most experienced members of the Wellington Harbour police unit, about 11 a.m. The last recorded radio message was at 11 a.m., when she logged in, Mr Mairs said. No mayday call was made and there was no message from the

launch indicating she was in trouble. When the Lady Elizabeth capsized, she was caught in seas which onlookers described as rising to 4m or sm. Winds estimated at 100 km an hour were blowing. Her position was near Barrett’s Reef, not far from partly submerged rocks on the western entrance to the harbour where the inter-island ferry Wahine struck in a storm on April 10, 1968. Constable McLean, Constable Herd, and the observer’s body were taken from the water by helicopter. The survivors were picked up between 12.30 p.m. and 1 p.m. A preliminary marine inquiry was begun late yesterday. The preliminary inquiry would determine if a full formal inquiry should be held into the accident. All Cook Strait ferry sailings yesterday afternoon and evening were cancelled because of galeforce winds in the strait. Helicopter, page 9