That overturned boats looks mighty small to be carrying 11 people ... 28 feet long?
Police said they were still notifying the relatives of those who died and couldn't yet publicly name the victims.
Vanessa Chapman told Stuff she and a group of friends had watched the rescue efforts unfold from Goose Bay, near Kaikoura. She said that when she arrived at a lookout spot, she could see a person sitting atop an overturned boat waving their arms.
She said two rescue helicopters and a third local helicopter were circling before two divers jumped out. She told Stuff that the person atop the boat was rescued, and a second person appeared to have been pulled from the water.
Kaikoura is a popular whale-watching destination. The seafloor drops away precipitously from the coast, making for deep waters close to the shore. A number of businesses offer boat trips or helicopter rides so tourists can see whales, dolphins and other sea creatures up close.
That overturned boats looks mighty small to be carrying 11 people ... 28 feet long?
I went whale watching in San Diego Bay a number of years ago.
One HUGE whale breach that got us all soaked - and then a Navy Submarine surfaced right NEXT to our boat; equally as unnerving!
I really don’t like open water. :(
Prayers up for the victims and survivors. Those rescued will have quite the tale to tell...
I guess he hasn't read Melville.
I thought that, too-I’ve never heard of a fishing charter booking 11 people for a boat that small-most specify no more than 6-7b people-and why was a charter boat-of any size out there running around where there had been several whales sighted in the 1st place? Sounds like a dumb thing to do...
Richard Hill from Cods and Crays fish and chip shop said he has worked with the skipper on the boat before.
"He's a very safe man, there's no way he'd take any risks.
"So there's just got to be something sort of a freak of nature, I would have thought. A very sad day for KaikÅura really, just a shock."
Hill said the community of 2000 is reeling.
Mackle said the boat had a group of women aged over 50 on board, and that there were calm seas with no waves.
Video on social media shows the boat flipped upside down, with passengers sitting on top.
Trying to find a picture that is not behind a paywall.
Seven deaths from the same cause? This is New Zealand so I think that’s enough to declare a 30 day lockdown to prevent whale related deaths.
I was hoping this was the idiots from”Whale Wars”
I kept watching the series just to see the next idiotic thing they would do.
Prayers for these people’s families.
Talk about bad luck. Dingo ate my baby. Moose bit my sister. Whale sank my boat taking my firearms down with it. I’m just unlucky.
Gonna need a bigger boat.
“Stove by a whale!”
Was Oprah out swimming again?
I took my sons whale watching on the St Lawrence near Tadoussac in Quebec. Fin and other large whales come up to a deep area in the St Lawrence to feed. They let you know that even wearing a life vest that you will only last 3-5 minutes in the water. It was a fairly large boat, and the captain announced that by the time we turn this boat around you will be in a state of hypothermia. And this was in July.