A coroner has described an incident in which a man died while out with friends in a stolen dinghy as a "tragedy waiting to happen".
Tauranga Coroner Dr Wallace Bain made the comment at an inquest on Tuesday into the death of Shaun Hogarth, 23.
Mr Hogarth died while fishing with three mates in rough seas in a stolen dinghy on October 16 last year.
The group had been drinking, there were no lifejackets or oars on board, and when the boat began sinking they tried to use empty beer bottles and an empty tackle box to try and bail out the water, the inquest was told.
Mr Hogarth was last seen swimming back to the submerged dinghy by one of his associates.
His body was recovered by the Coastguard nine days later.
Dr Bain, who reserved his finding, said it was clearly a "tragedy waiting to happen".
