Two people were thrown from a boat which sank off Port Stephens yesterday.
At about 7:40am the Marine Rescue base received a message from the public that an overturned vessel had thrown two people in the water and on to rocks at Fingal Bay lighthouse . A Mayday was immediately issued.
By the time rescue crews arrived the two people had been retrieved from the water. One had a broken leg and the other had cuts to their arms and legs.
They were taken to Shoal Bay where an ambulance was waiting to take them to hospital.
Their submerged vessel was towed back to Fingal Beach.
Yesterday’s Mayday call capped off a busy weekend for Port Stephens Marine Rescue.
On Saturday the base received a call at about 2:50pm from a small cabin cruiser that had engine issues near Piggy’s Beach. The cruiser had to be towed to Soldiers Point by Marine Rescue and eventually made it back to her berth at Nelson Bay Marina at 4pm.
At about 7pm last night there was another call for assistance. This time it was for a 9-metre motor cruiser that was having fuel issues near Birubi beach. The marine rescue crew were able to tow the cruiser back to Port Stephens Bay but it was slow going due to the weather conditions — there were 20knt winds and large swells.