Firemen tossed overboard

Press, 5 July 1986, Page 8

Firemen tossed overboard

PA Wellington A rescue fire officer is another survivor of Wednesday’s heavy seas after being thrown from a rubber inflatable during the search for Lady Elizabeth II crewmen. Mr Hugh Kelly was one of two manning the 5.4 m inflatable sent out by the Airport Rescue Fire Ser-

vice, along with its jet boat the Lady Hamilton. Mr Kelly was tossed from the inflatable after they were forced to turn back at Steeple Rocks, off Seatoun, said the airport station fire officer, Mr George Elphick. He was safely hauled from the water when the senior fireman, Mr Neil Smythe, turned the inflat-

able back to pick him up. Mr Elphick said his men had been "visibly upset” that they could not do more in the police launch search and rescue. Asked what use the airport craft would be if a aeroplane crashed in heavy seas, he said the weather on Wednesday afternoon was “pretty exceptional” and it was not

like that "every day of the week.” Although the airport service had never had to help a stricken plane, it had been called out to most sea rescues. Officers now retired had received medals for plucking survivors of the Wahine disaster from the seas in old-style Zodiac inflatables, he said.