A man is in a serious condition in hospital after a helicopter, coastguard boat and ambulance were used in rescuing him from a fishing boat off the coast of Auckland overnight.
A St John Ambulance spokesperson, Norm Ngatai, said the 40 year-old man was working on a commercial boat about 12 nautical miles from Muriwai when he developed serious chest pains.
Mr Ngatai said the Whangarei rescue helicopter, which can cope with more extreme weather conditions than the Auckland helicopters, was initially sent to winch the man to safety.
"They attempted to winch the patient from the vessel, however the swells and the weather conditions were quite bad, so they had to abort."
Norm Ngatai said the Coastguard was then deployed and brought the man to land, where he was met by an ambulance.
