At least four dead in a shipwreck off the coast of New Zealand

Four people have died and one more is unaccounted for after a boat with ten people sank this Sunday after going through a severe storm in the Tasman Sea off New Zealand, according to police sources.

On Monday, five people were rescued, who have already been taken to the hospital and are in a stable situation. Meanwhile, efforts continue to find the missing person with the help of helicopters from the air and boats supporting the search in the water, as well as ground crews searching along the coast, as reported by the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre,

“This is a major rescue operation, with several agencies working together on the search. Weather conditions are more favourable today and we are fully focused on the search and rescue of missing persons,” said New Zealand rescue center spokesman Nick Burt.

The ship with 10 people on board sank around 8 pm local on Sunday (0800 hours in Spain). The four bodies were located in the water and recovered by a rescue helicopter this Monday morning.

On the other hand, the bodies of the US crew of a military plane that crashed last Friday in Norway while carrying out joint NATO military maneuvers have been recovered, according to the Norwegian Police in statements collected by the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

The bad weather that has occurred these days is the Norwegian province of Nordland has delayed the collection of US soldiers, as avalanche experts from the Norwegian Armed Forces recommended waiting for the weather to be better, according to NRK.

The four deceased, who were traveling in a Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, have been identified and will be reunited with their families in the coming days, Marine General Michael Cederholm explained in a press release.

As expected by the chief of staff of the Nordland Police, no crew member has survived the accident, although the black box of the aircraft has been recovered, something that will be “absolutely essential” in trying to clarify what happened, as explained by accident inspector Mats Torbjornssona 'Dagbladet'.

So far, the investigation has been led by the Norwegian Police in collaboration with the US military, although as NKR points out, Americans are likely to take over the investigation.

The military exercises, in which NATO members and known as 'Cold Response' participate, are active both at sea and in the air and, according to information from Norway, about 30,000 soldiers from 27 states and partners of the Atlantic Alliance, including thousands of land, sea and air forces from each one.

Already before the start of the operation, the Norwegian authorities emphasized that 'Cold Response' is not a reaction to Russia's attack on Ukraine, but a common defence exercise planned for “a long time”.

(With information from Europa Press)

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