Coastguard Queenstown was called by Police to assist after an 18-tonne barge flipped while transporting fertiliser.  The incident took place at 2.30pm on 4^th November and Coastguard professional volunteers assisted with towing the barge back to Cecil Peek Station.  A tractor is at the bottom of Lake Wakatipu however the skipper, Philip Rive, swam out of his submerged cabin and escaped injury.

Queenstown Airport Rescue provided the Queenstown Council with pollution control assistance and divers checked if there was any fuel leaking from the barge before attempts to right the vessel were made.

The incident had been referred to Maritime New Zealand.  Mr Rive, who manages Cecil Peak Station, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But a family member said the barge was transporting fertiliser at the time.

“We’re not sure why it happened, really,” she said. “There’s been bigger loads and rougher weather.”  The tractor was probably not recoverable from the lakebed, but that was not what was important, she said.  “I’m just glad no-one was hurt.”

Coastguard Clyde were called by Police to assist in the search for Otago fisherman, Kevin Croad of Gore, on Sunday 1^st November after Mr Croad went missing in Lake Onslow.

Croad was fishing on Lake Onslow, 37km east of Roxburgh, with another adult when he entered the water to untangle fishing lines caught in the boat’s propellers, about 2pm Saturday.

The boat drifted away in the wind and by the time the other person was able to restart the motors Croad had vanished, according to Police.

Coastguard Clyde searched the Lake but were only able to locate a paddle from the boat.  They assisted the Wellington based police dive squad who recovered his body that afternoon, shortly after they started searching.

Divers found him about four metres deep in the lake near where he was last seen, Detective Sergeant Derek Shaw said.  “Although the death of Mr Croad is a tragedy it is of some comfort to his family and friends that he could be recovered from the lake in such a timely manner.”

“It’s a tribute to all the searchers involved that this result could be achieved.”

The death of Croad, who was not wearing a life jacket, had been referred to the coroner.