NZ Air Force, US Coast Guard rescue family

A family of four drifting at sea for six days in an aluminium dinghy off Kiribati has been rescued by a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Orion crew, working closely with the US Coast Guard.

The two adults and two children were spotted on Saturday, 6 November 2010 by the Air Force crew, having been last seen almost a week earlier when they began a 12km journey from Ukiangang to Tikurere Islands, in Butaritaro Atoll, before their four metre dinghy developed engine problems.

The Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) were called in to provide assistance to Kiribati officials after they exhausted local efforts to find them.

A joint US Coast Guard and RNZAF rescue mission was launched. The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) in Honolulu diverted the US Coast Guard Cutter (USCG) "RUSH" to the search area early on Saturday morning and began two 2-hour searches using their HH-65 Dolphin helicopter.

The Air Force Orion arrived on scene at approximately 3:30pm Saturday afternoon and co-ordinated their search efforts with the USCG RUSH.

After a short search, the Orion crew located the missing family and remained overhead while the USCG RUSH deployed a fast boat to their location – picking them up at approximately 6pm.

Orion Captain Flight Lieutenant Nathan McMaster says apart from suffering from dehydration, the family are all alive and well.

"Its always good to get a positive outcome to these search and rescues. The co-ordinated effort between New Zealand and Honolulu rescue co-ordination centres, and between the US Coast Guard and ourselves worked seamlessly and is an example of how important our ability to operate with other nations is," he says.