An amateur photographer has spoken of how helpless he felt as he watched a fishing boat capsize on the Greymouth bar.
The 36-year-old skipper drowned when his boat rolled in the huge waves, but his two crewmen made it to shore.
Bob McAuliffe regularly visits the breakwater at Greymouth with his camera in hand. He says he'll be haunted by what unfolded in front of him yesterday.
"I've photographed dozens of fishing boats coming across this bar and I just thought this was another one."
Mr McAuliffe just happened to be on hand to capture the capsize of the Lady Anna, a 15m wooden trawler that fell victim to the waves at notorious Greymouth river bar.
"I felt afraid for the people in the boat there, thought they're underwater probably and I thought I was seeing people perish in front of me," recalls Mr McAuliffe.
After the initial capsize, he watched the three men clamber back onto the side of the stricken vessel, only to be washed off by another wave.
The two crew were rescued, but 36-year-old skipper Nick Eklund couldn't be revived.
Adrien Perrin-Smith-Kahl also watched helplessly from the shore.
"I would have been another casualty if I jumped in. We didn't have any way to get them anything, rope or anything like that."
A memorial at the top of the breakwater pays tribute to the 11 people that have been killed negotiating the treacherous stretch of water where the Grey River meets the Tasman Sea.
Maritime New Zealand and the police are both investigating the tragedy.
3 News
source: newshub archive
