14 Persons Saved as 60 Foot Yacht Sinks at Motiti Island, New Zealand

An eighteen meter Maritimo motor yacht with fourteen persons onboard sank near Tauranga, Mototi Island, to the North East of New Zealand, at 13:40 of Friday sixteen May.  The fourteen boaters were rescued by a nearby boat as the Police alerted the New Zealand Coast Guard who later intervened on the scene.  Coast Guard from Maketū, Tauranga and Whakatāne alongside the Customs vessel Hawk V attended the accident and when they arrived at the spot found the eighteen meter motor yacht semi-sunk, with the bow sticking out of the water and the stern touching the bottom at about six hundred meters away from the shore.  A plan was immediately put into place to control pollution, with a salvage being organized.  The fourteen boaters were transferred to Coastguard Maketū’s rescue vessel, Eastpack Rescue, and taken to shore in Tauranga.  The cause of the sinking was reported to be an error of navigation, as the yacht hit charted marked underwater reefs.   The yacht was salvaged on Monday, and taken to a yacht yard in Tauranga.

The yacht in this sinking is a 2006 Maritimo Offshore 60 as designed by its builder Billy Barry-Cotter and produced from 2004 to 2008.  The Offshore 60 was Maritimo first model, which debuted the today famous Australian brand, with the model replaced by the 56 Cruising Motoryacht.