Coroner Heather McKenzie said in her report released she could not make a definitive finding on what was the primary cause of the deaths but said Richard Hiraman Jeet and Claude Norman Mitchell died from drowning. The two men were not wearing lifejackets.
The coroner’s report outlined how the drowning episode played out, including all things which went wrong and the decisions made.
These included: the boat was suited to lakes; the two boat motors did not work when needed and neither did the radio; the boat took half an hour to start; the forecast said conditions were set to worsen; no contact was made with the local radio service on departure; one of the victims wore waders he could not get off; only one of four on board had any real experience on boats; a makeshift anchor broke and the boat owner, who bought the boat by swapping his house bus, was a double amputee who survived as he had a lifejacket.
Mr Jeet, 66, his wife Roshni Jeet, Mr Mitchell, 67, and Tai Tepu went fishing from Bluff Harbour in Mr Tepu’s pleasure boat.
A few weeks before the accident, Mr Tepu swapped his house bus for a 5.6m Glass-Kraft pleasure boat.
The group went out to fish for blue cod on November 19. The boat was difficult to start and an anchor was made out of window sash weights.
The group did not make contact with the Bluff Fisherman’s Radio before they left which is the accepted and widely acknowledged best practice.
Mr Mitchell was the skipper, according to Mr Tepu. Mr Mitchell was reportedly not good at wearing a lifejacket. Mr Tepu and Mrs Jeet were the only two wearing lifejackets. Mr Jeet wore waders.
A witness said it took them about 30 minutes to get it to start, and the witness thought it was too rough to go out boating, which was repeated by another witness.
Fellow boater Joseph Reti had gone out earlier that morning but had returned due to the strong winds and loudly said within earshot of the foursome “…. I wouldn’t be going out in a boat like that today”.
Mr Reti thought the “whole scene looked very amateurish” and thought the boat was more suited to lakes. Police also said the boat was indicative of a lake boat.
By the time the group went to put the anchor down near Tiwai wharf, the water was rough and the wind was strong.
Mr Jeet had no time to remove his waders. He put down the anchor and tied it to the rail on the side of the boat but the railing snapped off and they lost the anchor. Mr Jeet told Mr Mitchell to radio for help, but the radio was not working.
They used a cellphone to call 111 instead at 12.19pm. A search and rescue response was initiated with the Bluff Coastguard.
Both the main and auxiliary motors failed to start.
A wave came over the boat. Mr Tepu, a double-amputee, had to unclip the seatbelt on his wheelchair. The group was variously holding on to each other as the boat sank.
Peter Leask got his boat, Torea, and went to assist.
Mr Jeet helped Mrs Jeet until he became unresponsive and drifted off into the water.
The remaining three stayed together with Mr Mitchell generally taking control by telling the others not to panic. After a period of time, Mr Mitchell too became unresponsive. Mrs Jeet and Mr Tepu continued holding Mr Mitchell until Mr Leask found and retrieved them on to the Torea with the help of crew from another boat, the Legacy. Mr Mitchell had died.
Mr Jeet was found soon after and was deceased. Mrs Jeet and Mr Tepu were treated for mild hypothermia.
The coroner said she could not make a definitive finding on what was the primary cause of the deaths.
"I do find though that had Mr Mitchell and Mr Jeet been wearing lifejackets, their chances of survival would have been materially increased," she said in her report.
