Rescues

Search and rescue help was quickly on hand for a Kakanui man when he fell ill and collapsed during a fishing trip to the island at the end of Katiki Peninsula south of Moeraki yesterday afternoon.

An older generation will be helping keep future generations of young Dunedin sailors afloat.

A bad bout of food poisoning and an expedition into extremely dangerous terrain gave Estonian tramper Andre Lipand a 26th birthday he will never forget after he became trapped in a deep gorge in Mount Aspiring National Park at the weekend.

Two Saudi Arabian men had to be rescued from Lake Wakatipu off Queenstown yesterday after they fell out of kayaks near Earnslaw Park in rough conditions.

It was second time lucky - or unlucky - for two Dunedin men at the centre of a water rescue off the Otago Peninsula yesterday.

The helicopter pilot who led the retrieval of a climber killed on Mt Aspiring on Wednesday was on his first operation for the Wanaka Alpine Cliff Rescue Team.

Jack and David Malcolm dragged in more than they bargained for when they went fishing at the Steamer Basin in Dunedin yesterday morning.

Hope was fading last night for 17 missing fishermen after their South Korean trawler In Sung sank in the Southern Ocean, claiming at least five lives.

The man who took the mayday cellphone call from two French kayakers found dead on Lake Wakatipu on Monday night says the rescue response was too slow and the deaths should spark debate over bringing the Coastguard to Queenstown Bay.

Adventure Southland has been sent a bill by Kawarau Jet, which answered a mayday call after four Queenstown Resort College students capsized while kayaking on Lake Wakatipu on September 25.