A fishing boat that ran aground at Farewell Spit at the top of the South Island this morning has been refloated and is being towed to safety.
Four fishermen became stranded at 2.30am when their 23-metre trawler struck a sandbar.
There were no reported injuries or fuel leaks.
The fishermen stayed on board the vessel and managed to refloat it with the high tide after 2pm.
However, the trawler suffered some steering damage and required a tow to Nelson port by a fellow fishing boat, a spokesman for The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand said.
