Desperate sailors throw children overboard

3:49 PM Mon 20 Apr 2009 GMT

'Jewd half submerged being towed into Picton Harbour' .

A disaster was narrowly missed last Sunday when desperate parents on a trimaran threw their children overboard to save them when a collision with launch seemed unavoidable. Their quick action, combined with the fact that they all wore lifejackets, probably saved themselves and the children seconds before their trimaran and a launch collided in the Marlborough Sounds of New Zealand.

The collision happened about 12.30pm as the 6.8-metre trimaran, with six people on board, rounded a peninsula, known as The Snout, and the 12m launch came out of Waikawa Bay.

Witnesses said the trimaran was 'demolished' and began to sink instantly.

Trimaran owner Siegfried Moseneder said the crash happened in '10 seconds', with the bow of the launch riding over the top of the trimaran, smashing the cabin.

He said his daughter and her two children, aged 12 and 10, were under water and he had just enough time to drag them out.

His son-in-law fell into the water but was unharmed.

The person on the launch was not injured, and that vessel suffered only minor damage.

Gary Tomes, who saw the crash, feared he would have to pull bodies out of the water.

'I still can't believe that we didn't.'

Tomes, on holiday from Christchurch, pulled alongside the wreckage of the trimaran, Jewd, and hauled Moseneder and his wife on to his boat. 'They chucked the two kids overboard because they knew they were going to hit, then they took the brunt of the whole thing,' Tomes said.

He said it took about 10 minutes to get to Waikawa Bay, where ambulances were waiting. The launch skipper took the four other trimaran passengers to shore.
All six people from the trimaran were taken to Wairau Hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman said one person was admitted and was in a satisfactory condition last night. The others had minor injuries.

Marlborough Sounds harbourmaster Dave Marshall said those on the trimaran were lucky to escape with their lives. 'The boat is substantially damaged to the point where we're very lucky we're not looking at some fatalities,' he said.

The six people were wearing lifejackets, which Marshall said was 'very pleasing'.

'They certainly wouldn't have had time to find lifejackets as the incident happened so fast,' he said.

by Press.co.nz/Sail-World Cruising

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