A FISHING boat that had to be rescued after running into trouble off the Portland coast last month has washed up on a surf beach at King Island, about 300 kilometres away.
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A surfer came across the boat at Martha Lavinia beach yesterday morning, according to The King Island Courier.
The boat had been drifting for 10 days after it broke free of a Coast Guard vessel while being towed back to Portland on April 21.
The boat started taking on water about 31 kilometres off the coast late on April 21 and the Portland Coast Guard was called in to rescue five people on board.
The HEMS 4 air ambulance and another fixed wing aircraft also assisted and the boat was being brought back to Portland under tow. Portland Coast Guard flotilla commander Michael Krause said it broke loose about a quarter of the way back to Portland and couldn’t be recovered.
“In situations like that our priority is to protect personnel — not property,” he said.
“Conditions were really rough and very dangerous that night. Our skipper is what you would call an old salt, and even he was green around the gills.”
The surfer and a local farmer pulled the boat above the high water mark and King Island Police Sergeant Steve Shaw said he believed the insurance company had been contacted and an assessor would travel to the island to inspect the vessel.
WITH THE KING ISLAND COURIER
