Man swims Bkm to safety

Press, 8 December 1988, Page 2

Man swims Bkm to safety

PA Napier A Haumoana man, aged 22, swam for about three hours to safety yesterday before joining in a search for a fishing companion missing in Hawke’s Bay. Mr Michael Wainohu came ashore at Clifton on the shores of Cape Kidnappers about 1 p.m., surviving an Bkm swim through choppy seas after he and a Te Awanga youth, Raymond Arthur Welch, aged 18, were thrown from their sinking runabout about 2km out to sea from the Tuki Tuki river mouth. But air, sea and shoreline searches failed to find Mr Welch who is thought to have become separated from Mr Wainohu shortly before Mr Wainohu reached safety. Police said that while distressed, Mr Wainohu appeared to have suffered little physical harm from his ordeal and after resting briefly after coming ashore, he boarded a helicopter to help searchers scan the area.

The main search, which had involved at least six fishing vessels and surf rescue boats,. was abandoned about: 3.30 p.m. with Mr Welch presumed drowned, but family, friends and police joined an evening search of the shoreline towards the cape. The search would be resumed in the morning if there had been ho trace of the missing man, said Senior-Sergeant Graeme Sawyer, of the Napier police. The drama unfolded after the four-metre craft, powered by a 50 h.p. outboard and 7 h.p. auxiliary, disappeared about 10 a.m. The police were advised almost immediately and a helicopter search located an oil slick and some items thought to have come from the boat.

The submerged craft was found and a towline attached but attempts to haul it to the surface or to shore were unsuccessful.