NOW_N16s_YachtDeaths_27

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The sailing community is reeling after the death of two competitors in this year’s Sydney Hobart race. In separate incidents, New South Wales police say a crew member killed on the flying fish arctos was a 55-year-old man from western Australia and a 65-year-old man from south Australia was killed on bowline. Both men were struck in the head by moving sail booms.

Transcript

00:00The first fatality occurred at about midnight, about 30 nautical miles off the coast of Ulladulla

00:07on board the yacht Flying Fish Arctos.

00:10Now on board that yacht was a 55-year-old male from Western Australia who was hit on

00:17the head by the sail boom.

00:19Now the sail boom is essentially the pole that connects to the sail.

00:23The crew on board issued a mayday call and they performed CPR on this man but he was

00:27unable to be revived.

00:29The second separate fatality that occurred overnight occurred about 30 nautical miles

00:35off the coast of Batemans Bay on board the yacht known as the Bowline and that occurred

00:40at about 2.30 this morning and that was when a 65-year-old male from South Australia was

00:45also hit in the head by the sail boom.

00:48The crew members on board performed CPR on him but he could also not be revived.

00:53Superintendent Joseph McNulty from Marine Area Command said conditions have been challenging

00:59this year and described this as nothing short of a tragedy.

01:03Both crews are doing pretty tough at the moment.

01:05We've got police with them talking to them, we've offered them some counselling, they're

01:09assisting with our enquiries.

01:10They are shaken up from what they've seen and what they've had to do.

01:13But gullibly they provided CPR to their crew member through the night while they waited

01:17for police to attend and they didn't give up.

01:20They kept going until it was obvious that those two men had lost their lives.

01:25Now the Bowline remains here in Batemans Bay.

01:29The plan is to actually tow it into this marina in Batemans Bay eventually but there's a rising

01:35tide and there's a sandbar so it's actually a bit too tough to get the yacht into this

01:41area at the moment.

01:42There's actually another yacht that's here at the Batemans Bay Marina known as the Rum

01:46Rebellion which retired this morning as well.

01:51The Flying Fish Arctos remains in Jervis Bay.

01:54Now the plan is that police will conduct their investigations.

01:57They need to prepare a couple of reports for the coroner in relation to the two separate

02:01fatalities.

02:03They need access to those boats to conduct those investigations so we don't expect them

02:07to move from either Batemans Bay or Jervis Bay respectively for the near future anyway.

02:15Police aren't also revealing the names of the two men that died.

02:18They're still in the midst of contacting their next of kin.

02:23Undoubtedly this is an incredibly difficult time not only for the family members hearing

02:28about the news of their loved ones passing away at sea but also the crew members that

02:33were there that perhaps witnessed these terrible tragedies.

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