Crew in tug rescue

RESCUE: Crew of the HMNZS Rotoiti, seen in the background, collect the tug’s lifeboat in one of the naval ship’s rigid hull inflatable boats.

FIRE SAFETY: Naval crew board the tug after confirming the fire was out.

ALL AT SEA: Tugboat Koraki crew were forced to abandon ship in this life boat and inflatable liferaft 20km out to sea.

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A RODNEY Coastguard crew on their new boat Kawau Rescue were involved in the Tuesday morning rescue of five men from a tug which caught fire nearly 20km off Mangawhai.

Coastguard Kawau were joined by the Whangarei-based northern Coastguard, the new naval patrol vessel HMNZS Rotoiti, and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter on the rescue mission.

The fire started in the engine room of the ocean-going tug Koraki around 3.30am. The crew sent a mayday call before closing the hatch to the room – which rescuers say probably saved the boat – then abandoned the tug in a liferaft and lifeboat.

Coastguard Kawau president Richard Bray says after receiving the callout they travelled from Sandspit to the stricken craft in the dark using a new infrared camera for guidance, arriving at around 5.30am – the same time as the Whangarei coastguard vessel Circa Rescue.

The Kawau crew stood off while the five uninjured men were taken aboard the northern Coastguard vessel.

One of two naval ships on exercise in the area at the time, the Rotoiti responded to the mayday and arrived after the Coastguard had already rescued the tug crew. Naval ship Manawanui was anchored off Kawau Island with the Rotoiti off Motuihi, where officer training was taking place.

Despite being further away, the Rotoiti was sent to the rescue because it is a bigger and faster boat. It got to the stationary tug around 6am.

Using thermal imaging, Rotoiti crew determined the fire was out, although residual hotspots were detected.

Significant blistering was also found on the port funnel. Commanding officer Lieutenant Andrew Hogg sent a fire crew with full breathing apparatus and firefighting equipment to check the boat and cool the hotspots.

A naval engineer reported an electrical fault over the port engine as the likely fire cause, says navy senior media adviser Lieutenant Sarah Campbell.

The twin-engine tug had been towing an empty barge from Auckland to Whangarei, the fire damaging the port engine while the starboard engine remained in working order. The crew was able to safely start that engine and left for Auckland under their own steam at about 9am, more than five hours after the fire began.

Coastguard Northern Region duty officer Mark Leevers says commercial tug boats make the trip between Auckland and the Whangarei cement works nearly every day.