Two people on board a sinking yacht survived “quite extreme” conditions to be rescued from the stricken vessel after an all-night multi-agency operation.
Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority confirmed a 60-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman who were on board the 19-metre yacht were rescued at around 7.25am on Tuesday.
The couple are believed to have been unharmed, but the ship, the Spirit of Mateship, had to be abandoned.
AMSA said it received a distress beacon alert around midday on Monday, but rough conditions due to strong winds hampered rescue efforts.
A mechanical failure caused the yacht to become stranded about 185 kilometres east of Nowra, but it drifted further east to about 300 kilometres off the coast before the duo were rescued.
The Navy ship HMAS Canberra assisted in the rescue efforts, as did the New South Wales Police ship Nemesis.
HMAS Canberra captain Brendan O’Hara said the duo’s near-24-hour ordeal would have been torture given their much larger ship had also battled the powerful waves.
Two people on board a sinking yacht are believed to have been uninjured after surviving “extreme” conditions overnight before being rescued around 300 kilometres off the coast of New South Wales (pictured)
Winds of between 50 and 70 km/h and seas of up to 6 m had made rescue efforts difficult for crews, conditions that Captain O’Hara described as “quite extreme”.
“(The couple) were holding on as best they could… I don’t want to even think what it was like for them because even on the Canberra, which is quite a big boat, we were rolling and rolling quite a bit,” he told Seven’s Sunrise programme.
“Not many of the crew members here have gotten much sleep, so the two staff members on the Spirit of Mateship definitely haven’t gotten any sleep. I’m scared to think about the conditions there.”
AMSA service manager Ben Flight said the rescued couple are believed to be in good condition considering the ordeal.
“We have safely recovered the two people on board the police boat Nemesis… we understand that, considering all the circumstances, they are in good condition,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.
‘The police vessel Nemesis and HMAS Canberra are heading back to shore and we understand they will return to Sydney tonight to rescue the two people.’
Winds of between 50 and 70 km/h together with seas of up to 6 m made the rescue tasks “quite extreme for the crews”.
HMAS Canberra arrived at the scene at 1am on Tuesday, while the police boat arrived at 3am.
The duo will be flown back to Sydney for medical assessment.
Poor conditions initially prevented authorities from removing the duo from their boat and airlifting them to medical facilities.
Earlier on Tuesday, AMSA officials said the matter had become “time-sensitive” because the ship was taking on water.
The rescue operation initially involved two Royal Australian Navy ships and an RAAF C-130J Hercules aircraft.
The Spirit of Mateship has participated in several races from Sydney to Hobart, with crews of wounded or injured ex-defence force servicemen, to raise money for the Mates4Mates charity.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched the ship in 2013 ahead of the vessel’s maiden voyage from Sydney to Hobart.
